


A Momentary Indiscretion

by RuinousOmen



Category: Professional Wrestling, World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: Cheating, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Infidelity, Revenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-24
Updated: 2020-10-02
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:54:57
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 35,682
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26628616
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RuinousOmen/pseuds/RuinousOmen
Summary: One night and a lapse of judgment is all it took for Natasha's life to crumble down around her. As she picks up the pieces and moves on from her lover's moment of indiscretion, she finds happiness in the arms of his friend. However, jealousy is an ugly thing and some men are willing to go to terrible lengths in an attempt to win a person back, or to get revenge if that fails.
Relationships: Dean Ambrose | Jon Moxley/Original Female Character(s), Seth Rollins | Tyler Black/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 43
Kudos: 19





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> Author's note: I have returned, with yet another short story. Rest assured, I am still working on Untouched Angel, although I'm holding off on posting anything further until it's completed, as I keep backtracking to add in additional scenes and details. I also have six additional Dean/Oc fics that I am working on but they too will not be posted until they're completed. The muse has become a fickle bitch and she can't stay on track for more than a few days at a time so we bounce between stories. 
> 
> Warnings for this story include infidelity, language, and of course, a rather large lemon. We're also (mostly) using real names here and I've done my best to follow the actual timeline of events, although a few things have been pushed back to suit this story's purposes. 
> 
> Special thanks to my alphas amoxgirl and SethMoxsLady for putting up with me and my cantakerous muse.

_**Chapter One** _

It was supposed to be a wonderful night. Magical even, because it was so unusual that they were in the same city together unless she was able to pull some strings and work her magic to make it happen. Tonight would have been no exception, considering RAW was in Denver for that week and Colby Lopez, otherwise known as Seth Rollins, hadn't been due to leave for the next show until that Thursday. As for Natasha Annessley, well, she was supposed to be in Atlanta, working on a film set. When the director, producer, and several of their assistants had come down with the flu though, all filming had stopped and she'd thought it would be a wonderful idea to surprise her man.

When she'd boarded the flight for that night, she'd kept her plans quiet. When she'd gotten off the plane, she'd casually inquired how he was settling in at her house. What was the sense of getting a hotel for the week when she'd given him a key to her house for times such as this? When she'd stepped out of the airport, she'd second guessed her decision not to call Colby to pick her up because of the torrential downpour that blanketed the city. Still, she wasn't going to let a bit of rain ruin her plans and she'd flagged down a cab and hoped the drive wouldn't take all that long. Fortunately, luck was on her side and the trip took less than twenty minutes. Twenty minutes of waiting to see the surprise and excitement on his face when he realized what she'd done. And although she didn't know it at the time, it was twenty minutes before her life would change forever.

Once Natasha had gotten out of the cab that had taken her home, she'd been pleased to see that while the house was mostly dark, the bedroom light was still on. A smile touched her lips as she slipped into the house and closed the door quietly behind her. At least she wouldn't have to take the time to wake him up because she'd fucking missed him. It'd been far too long since she'd been able to relax, to just be in his arms and let her mind go quiet, to indulge in his touch and the soft words he'd whisper against her skin.

With a soft, contented moan, she kicked her shoes off at the door and left them beside the suitcase that she'd brought in with her before she ascended the stairs. It'd been a long fucking day, but being in Colby's arms would make everything better. Or so she thought. The sound of his voice reached her ears and for a moment, she thought he might be talking on the phone to someone but somehow, his voice was harder, more aggressive and then she heard the last thing she'd ever expected: A feminine moan.

Natasha stared uncomprehendingly down the hallway to the open door for a moment. Surely she was mistaken, surely she hadn't heard what she thought she did. The possibility though left her with an ache in her chest; it felt like a band had tightened around her heart and she forgot to breathe for a moment. She could hope and pray that he was just watching a porno, adding his commentary as he jacked off but instinct told her she wasn't going to be so lucky.

“Yeah, you like it like that don't you? Open up wide, baby... I'm gonna fuck your throat, got it? Mmmm yeah, that's it, baby. Tip your head back... yeah, that's perfect. Just like that, gonna make you take it all.”

Unable to stop herself, Natasha continued down the hallway to the master bedroom and of course, the door was open. Why wouldn't it be, since she was supposed to be halfway across the country? Colby certainly wasn't expecting her to come home, otherwise, he wouldn't have some skank dressed in red lace sprawled out on her bed while he held her head in place. Nor had he noticed her standing there, because he was too busy easing his cock down her throat with a feral look in his eyes. The sight would forever be burned into her memory and she stood frozen in the doorway, unable to move.

Natasha wondered where the overwhelming wave of fury was that she knew she _should_ be feeling but for the moment, she it just wasn't there. She felt empty, save for the crushing pain wrapped around her heart. She wanted to desperately unsee this, to go back to the time where she didn't know that Colby was cheating on her.

Like a switch had been flipped in her brain, Natasha found she could breathe again and drew a ragged breath. It seemed to take an eternity to get her legs to respond though, but when she did she finally managed to turn from the doorway and walked back down the hall. She knew he hadn't noticed. Why would he when he was so wrapped up in _her_? The trip to the foyer took less time than she'd anticipated, not that she was paying much attention anyway. Not when she could hear his voice drifting down the hallway while he spoke of all the filthy things he was going to do to his new lover. Each lustful word was like a dagger in her heart and she barely had the presence of mind to grab the purse she'd left on the table by the front door. By the time she'd made it outside and to the car, she no longer cared if the wetness staining her cheeks was from the rain and her tears but her shoulders shook with the sobs that wracked her body.

_'I must have done something to deserve this.'_ The poisonous thought played itself on repeat in her mind while the rain pelted down on her. The problem was, she couldn't think of what it would be. Was it because her schedule was just as hectic as his? Wasn't it enough that whenever she had a day off, she'd fly into whatever city they were staying at to take whatever scraps of time he had to offer to her?

It probably wasn't the best of ideas to get behind the wheel in her present condition, but she couldn't stay there and how bitter of a pill was that to swallow? It was _her_ house, bought and paid for. She'd given him a key because she cared enough about him that she didn't want him sleeping in a hotel if he was in town. They'd been dating over a year and she had come home to find him in _her_ bed with another woman. He hadn't even had the decency to choose one of the guest rooms. Her hands gripped the steering wheel tighter as she drove and she tried to think of where she could go. There was a hotel nearby but whether or not they'd be able to accommodate her for the night was anyone's guess. It didn't matter though, if they couldn't she'd just keep driving until she found one that could.

She made it back onto the interstate easily enough and took the first exit she came to. She was on the outskirts of the city but the weather had caused the traffic to slow to a crawl with people who didn't have the sense to stay off the roads. A horn blared nearby and Natasha frantically wiped at her eyes to clear them even as she pulled the car back into her own lane. _'Stupid stupid stupid! I should have just kicked them out of the house!'_ Maybe then she wouldn't be trying to drive when visibility was next to zero because of the rain. By the time she made it to the hotel, her nerves were completely shot and her hands were shaking when she shut the car off. She waited for a few minutes, hoping the rain would ease up but when it became obvious it was a lost cause, she gave in to the inevitable and got out of the car. It took only seconds for her clothing to become soaked through, not that she'd really dried from her mad dash from the house, and it took even less time than that for her to realize she hadn't even bothered to put those uncomfortable heels back on. She just hoped the receptionist in the lobby chose not to have a fit about it. It wasn't like there was anything she could do about it anyway, not when she'd left her suitcases at the house in her haste to escape him. A sigh escaped her as she trudged through the rain, “It'll be fine as long as they don't kick me out.”

That vague idea became an actual worry when she stepped into the brightly lit lobby, looking like a drowned rat. The receptionist looked her up and down in a mixture of concern and distaste. Natasha knew she had to look afright and she could only imagine the state of her makeup in addition to everything else. While her mascara might have been waterproof, that didn't mean the rest of it was. When she reached the front desk, she managed a watery smile to the woman. “I'd like to rent a room for the night.”

“I'm sorry, but we don't have any vacancies tonight. There's a wrestling event in the city but the coordinators booked the talent here. I guess so they could actually get some sleep and not have to deal with their fans every time they left their rooms,” she replied and laughed for a moment. When her quip didn't get the reaction she'd hoped for, she reached behind the counter to pull out a box of tissues for her.

“Of course,” Natasha said and laughed bitterly but accepted the tissues and quickly tried to dry her eyes before she completely lost it again. “Can you tell me which hotel might have a room available? I don't... I don't want to try driving all over town tonight.”

“That might be hard, it was some big event so most of the hotels are probably booked full but I can look for you, Miss,” she replied and quickly began pulling up information on her computer. She looked up briefly, seeing people drift in and out of the lobby but they were all people she knew to be affiliated with the WWE since she'd checked them in earlier that night. “It looks like the Hilton Garden in Boulder has rooms available.”

Natasha had to sigh and close her eyes. Driving to Boulder would take her a little over half an hour on a good day. In this rainstorm it might take her upwards of an hour but it looked like it was going to be her only option. Natasha closed her eyes and willed herself not to break down again, not that it helped much. “Could you put in a reservation for me?”

“Of course, name please?” she replied, pleased that she could help the woman in front of her.

“Natasha Annesley,” she replied and dug through her purse to hand her the ID and credit card she would need to reserve the room. She really didn't want to be forced to sleep in her car but she would if it put off having to see her soon to be ex-boyfriend for a few hours longer. Once the reservation was made and she had her cards back in hand, she turned and left the building. She'd just cleared the doors when her phone started to vibrate and she paused to look at the caller ID. Her fingers clenched around the device when she saw that it was Colby and she resisted the urge to throw the phone. Instead she immediately declined the call.

Unfortunately, she hadn't taken more than two steps down the sidewalk before her phone vibrated again. Now she was really tempted to throw the damned thing but it would just be a headache to replace it later. She really, really didn't need this right now and when she answered the phone, she knew she didn't have a chance in hell of keeping her voice from breaking, “What do you want, Colby?”

_“Where are you?”_

“Why the fuck should you care?” she asked and stared out over the parking lot. There was no way in hell she was going back now, nor was she going to give him her location so he could come to her.

“ _Why wouldn't I care when I come downstairs to find your stuff but no sign of you?”_

Natasha wanted to laugh bitterly at the cajoling tone he was using with her. Like he had a fucking prayer that she hadn't seen what he was doing. Like maybe she'd decided to go back out for fucking dinner or something, and hadn't seen him with his little fuck toy. Her fingernails bit into her palm as she struggled to control her breathing. “You care? Tell me how much, Colby. Tell me where all that care and concern was when you dragged that blonde piece of trash into _my_ house to fuck her. Where was your care and concern, Colby? Did I even cross your mind while you were dropping your pants for her?”

“ _Now, baby, I'm not sure what you think you saw but...”_

“Oh, was I mistaken? I'd like to hear this explanation then, Colby!” she yelled and then jumped when she felt a warm hand on her shoulder. She glanced to the side and swallowed hard when she saw Jon there, looking at her in concern but she couldn't focus on him, not right now.

When there was silence from the phone, she knew Colby was frantically trying to come up with a reasonable explanation and she decided to help him out. “I'm waiting, Colby. Explain to me how you suddenly found yourself with naked in my bed with her. Did the rain melt your clothing? Oh I know, you got caught out in the storm and thought it'd be a lovely idea to take her to my house so you could both change. Together. And it is sort of chilly tonight, so to prevent any shrinkage your dick just happened to find its way into her mouth, am I right?”

“ _'Tasha... it wasn't like that.”_

“No, don't even start, Colby. I know what the fuck I saw. There's absolutely nothing you can do to save yourself _or_ this relationship. I want you and your tramp out of my house. If either of you are still there when I get back, I'm calling the cops,” she replied and hung up on him. She was so fucking angry and hurt she was shaking and her phone fell from her fingers to clatter to the sidewalk. She hadn't even made an attempt to save it. “How long, Jon? How long has this been happening?”

The question was one he'd been expecting the moment he realized it was Natasha that had come from inside the hotel, which actually hadn't been until she'd answered her phone. Her appearance and more importantly, the raw pain he'd heard in her voice had startled him. In that moment, he'd started cursing Colby with every fiber of his being. “I wish I could answer that, but I can't. We don't travel together anymore, Natasha.”

“So you know nothing? Not even whether or not there's been rumors?” she asked brokenly and when he pulled her in against his chest, she just leaned against him. She wanted desperately to believe him, because Jon had _never_ lied to her before but after tonight she didn't know who she could trust anymore.

“There's always rumors, doll. Doesn't mean there's ever any truth behind them. What I don't see with my own eyes...” he trailed off and tightened his arms around her. He wanted to say he was surprised by what Colby had done, but he had a history of doing this shit.

“I get it. Fuck, I was so stupid to believe in him,” she said and choked back a sob. Jon only held her closer while she fell apart, oblivious to the people who stared on their way into the hotel.

“It's not stupid to want to believe in someone, doll,” he replied softly and glared when Punk walked by and stared a bit too hard at the two of them. No doubt the asshole would be on the phone to Colby the first chance he got. Once the man had moved on, he looked down at Natasha and sighed. There was no way in hell she was going back to the house tonight, not in the state she was in. “Let's get you back inside. What number are you in?”

“I couldn't get a room here. I have to go to Boulder,” she said and wiped at her eyes. She really needed to pull it together before the paparazzi got wind of this. Having her shame of being cheated on splashed about on the internet would be the final piece of the puzzle to make her humiliation complete.

Jon liked the idea of her driving to another city even less than he liked the idea of her going back to the house to confront that cheating scumbag. He sighed then and ran a hand through his hair, “You got everything you need in your car?”

“Not really. I kind of left everything at the house,” she replied and knelt down to pick up her phone. She breathed a sigh of relief seeing the screen wasn't cracked. She'd take any silver lining in this dark cloud at this point.

That certainly explained why she wasn't even wearing a pair of shoes, not that he could do anything about that at the moment. Unfortunately, that also meant she didn't have a change of clothes and the ones she currently wore were sopping wet. Fortunately, he could do something about that much, at least. He put his arm around her again, “Come on, we'll go up to my room so you can at least changed and then I'll drive you to where you need to go.”

“I should be going now. Someone's probably already told Colby where I am. He'll be coming and I really don't want to see him,” she said with a shake of her head. She'd heard Punk's voice at one point and she knew that he and Colby got along like a house on fire. He was probably on the phone with him right now, trying to find out what happened.

“You can take a few minutes to change before you go. Last thing you need is to get sick, sweetheart,” Jon said and led her into the hotel lobby. The receptionist looked at them, startled that he had Natasha in his arms but he wasn't concerned with what she thought. However, he did pause to speak with her briefly. “I need you to do me a favor, Annie. If a Colby Lopez or Seth Rollins shows up here asking for my room number, I need two things. One, you don't tell him what room I'm in and two, I need you to call me in room 212 to give me a heads up.”

“Mr. Good, it's company policy to not give out information about our guests but I'd be happy to call you if he shows up and identifies himself,” Annie replied and glanced at Natasha again. Clearly the two of them knew one another by the way he'd been hovering over her since she'd left the building. She'd only been able to hear bits and pieces of the conversation Miss Annesley had on the phone but she knew it wasn't good. “Is she going to be alright?”

“Yeah, she's gonna be fine. Hey, you got any more of those bathrobes that come with the room? She's just a bit... you know,” he said and waved to Natasha's bedraggled appearance.

“Of course, sir,” she replied and stepped back to a large cabinet and pulled out one of the bathrobes that were supplied to every room. When he'd taken it from her, she stepped back. “Is there anything else I can help you with tonight?”

“This'll do it. Thanks,” Jon replied and then steered Natasha towards the elevators. Fortunately, they were alone so they didn't have to field any uncomfortable questions and a couple of minutes later, they were inside of his hotel room. “You want to get a shower before I drive you out there?”

“I doubt I'll have time,” she replied tiredly and watched Jon as he moved about the room. To her surprise, he went to his suitcases and pulled out one of his Dean Ambrose shirts and a pair of shorts that he then shoved into her hands. “Jon?”

“Take them and go shower. You'll have all the time you want, doll. If he shows up here trying to harass you, he's gonna get my fist in his face,” he replied and ushered her towards the bathroom. His clothes would positively swim on her, but it was better than her standing there looking like she'd just walked through a hurricane. He shook his head when she looked like she was going to argue and after a moment, he watched the bathroom door shut. It wasn't long before the shower turned on and he sat down heavily on the edge of the bed.

“Colby, you fucking idiot,” Jon muttered and seethed in anger. The idiot might be one of his best friends, but that didn't mean he had to agree with everything the man did and he vehemently disagreed with this bullshit. He'd actually met Natasha first and despite the odds, somehow they'd become fast friends. They were both quiet and reclusive, tending to shy away from the spotlight in their private time. They'd become so close that they'd quickly fallen into a routine and they had a standing coffee date with one another any time they were in the same town.

His mistake, and now one of his biggest regrets, was introducing her to Colby Lopez. The man had developed an instant infatuation with her and like an idiot, Jon had believed him when he'd said he was a changed man. Jon had stepped aside, because he'd wanted his best friend happy and he'd thought Natasha needed someone... softer. Someone who wasn't so rough around the edges. Someone who could give her everything she needed. Someone that wasn't him, no matter how much pain it caused him.

The thing Jon couldn't understand was why it had come to this. As far as he'd known, their relationship had been great. Colby had never indicated he was having second thoughts or even a wandering eye. Hell, whenever the other man brought her up, Jon would have sworn the man was so deliriously happy that he was ready to buy into the American dream, complete with marriage, the house with a white picket fence, and a handful of kids. Usually things were always a bit strained when you were on the road as much as they were, but Colby saw Natasha more frequently than a lot of the other wrestlers saw their significant others since she made an effort to meet up with him whenever the mood struck her, which was more often than not, as long as she wasn't on set.

Was this just a one and done thing? Jon had known a bunch of the guys had planned to go out to the bar earlier in the night, even though he'd chosen to stay in. Had Colby gotten drunk and picked someone up at the bar, spur of the moment? Or was this something darker, something that had happened more frequently and Colby had just slipped up by getting caught? Jon wasn't sure but either way, he hoped that Natasha remained strong in her resolve to end things. Not because he wanted to swoop in to save her, despite the lingering feelings he had for her, but because he truly believed she deserved better.

The sound of the bathroom door opening pulled Jon from his thoughts and he looked up when Natasha entered the room. As expected, his clothes dwarfed her body but it was better than leaving her in her own wet clothing. She still looked like she'd gone through hell and back, but at least now she was mostly dry save for her long, auburn hair. With a sigh, he stood and went to her and pulled her back into his arms. “I'm not going to ask you if you feel any better... cause I know you don't. But do you want to talk about it?”

“What's there to talk about?” she said, her voice muffled by his chest. She closed her eyes when she felt his arms tighten around her. “My ex-boyfriend is a cheating asshole. I should have known better.”

“I don't know why he did what he did, Natasha, but if anyone should have known it'd be me,” Jon said softly and felt her fingers clench in his shirt. The amount of pain in her voice made his own heart ache. “If I'd have known, doll... there's no fuckin' way I wouldn't have told you. You shouldn't have had to walk in on him like that.”

“I wish I'd never met him,” she whispered and closed her eyes against the sting of tears. She didn't want to cry over Colby. He wasn't worth it, not after what he'd done but they dampened her cheeks anyway.

The admission fit what Jon felt at the moment because he wished he'd never introduced them. Sure, she might have had a year of wonderful memories with Colby but was it worth it now? He doubted it. The way she trembled in his arms just had made him hold her tighter, like he could keep her from breaking. “I'm sorry, doll. I'm so fucking sorry.”

“He had her in my bed, Jon. What the hell did I do for him to want to hurt me like this?” she'd asked in the hopes that Jon might be able to give her some sort of insight as to what she'd done wrong.

That question made him close his eyes to at least make an attempt to get control of his anger. God help him, if Colby were standing in front of him at the moment there was a very good possibility that the confrontation would turn violent. Slowly he exhaled and looked at the woman in his arms, wishing he could take her pain away. Instead he just brushed the tears from her cheeks and shook his head, “You didn't do anything, Natasha. This is all on him.”

“I just don't understand. I keep wondering if it was because of how busy we both are, or if it's because of my job. I know he wasn't happy about this latest role but he said he understood,” she replied and started to pull away from Jon. He finally allowed her to move, even if he seemed to be a bit reluctant. She turned from him then, in order to collect her thoughts.

“You mean the sex scenes,” he replied and moved out of the way when she looked like she was about to start pacing. Normally he was the one with pent up energy but at the moment, he had to be the calm one.

“Yes. I mean, I could have turned it down but,” she said and then shook her head as she moved to stare out the window, “He didn't understand. I'm in a position where I'm popular enough that I can afford to be picky but there are some people you just don't say no to. Not unless you want to be blacklisted from the industry.”

“I get it. It's easy for the higher ups to turn on you,” Jon said and watched as she bit her lower lip, a habit she always did when she was upset about something.

“Exactly. And this film is projected to break records. I would have been an idiot to turn it down just because my boyfriend objected to a couple of scenes. It's not like anything happened anyway,” she said bitterly. She'd gone out of her way to reassure Colby, to try to explain to him that there was nothing that was going to happen in a room with at least five other people, under production lights. Not to mention, her co-star would have been wearing a nude colored cock sock and the scene so tightly choreographed that when the scenes had been filmed, her vagina had been drier than the Sahara desert.

“Sweetheart, I'm telling you, this had nothing to do with you,” Jon said roughly and slowly walked up behind her. The last thing she needed to be doing was taking responsibility for Colby's shitty choices. Every last one of Colby's objections to those scenes, at least from what the man had told him, had stemmed from not only his worry about how the scenes would reflect on him, but also how other men would get to see how she looked in the throes of passion. It had never been about trust, or lack of it.

“How can you be so sure?” she finally asked and looked up at him.

“Because Colby is a fucking moron who's done this before. There wasn't a reason those other times, beyond him wanting to get his dick wet. That's not on you,” he replied and then pulled her in close again. “Colby knows nothing of fuckin' loyalty. Not to anybody.”

Neither of them couldn't argue with that, not after tonight. Before Natasha had a chance to voice her opinion though, a knock cut through the brief silence and Jon's gaze fixated on the door. He damned sure wasn't expecting anyone to drop by tonight, outside of the possibility of the dickhead himself. However the receptionist had never called. He settled his hands on Natasha's shoulders and looked down at her. “I'll take care of it and then we'll get you the hell out of here.”

With that he crossed the room and checked through the peephole. A sigh escaped him when he saw that it was indeed Colby and he turned back towards Natasha. He wasn't opening the door until he knew what she wanted him to do. “It's the asshole. Want me to tell him to fuck off. You can duck back into the bathroom if you want.”

The pounding on the door resumed and Natasha turned to glare at the door, wishing that she could melt the person on the other side with just a thought. Why the fuck did he have to show up now.

“Open up, Ambrose! I know she's in there!”

“Great, as if it wasn't already going to be a scandal. I can see the tabloids now. WWE love triangle! Seth Rollins finds lady love in best friend's bed,” she muttered darkly, her fists clenching. Surely by now people were sticking their heads out of their rooms to see what the fuck Colby was yelling about. “You know he's mad when he starts breaking out ring names.”

“Be more of a scandal if I dragged him in here so I can throw him out the window,” Jon replied and looked at the door when the banging resumed. “So, he knows you're here. What do you wanna do, sweetheart? Don't think he's going away any time soon.”

“And by the time security got here, we'd have a full news crew filming from the hallway. Let the dickhead in, I guess,” she said and then sat down heavily on the end of the bed before she pulled the bathrobe over her shoulders for a bit of warmth. She was not ready for this confrontation but then, when did Colby ever give her a choice when it was something _he_ really wanted?

Jon nodded once and pulled the door open, admitting Colby into the room. He wasn't surprised to see Punk lurking in the corridor and he took the opportunity to flip the man off before he shut the door firmly behind him. He'd be more than happy to deal with that asshole later. “I'd ask what the hell you're doing here, Colby, but I'll be honest, I really don't care. If you think you're gonna drag Natasha anywhere she doesn't want to go though, I'm ready to prove your ass wrong.”

“Like you have a fucking say in what happens between me and my girlfriend,” Colby said, his expression hard and unforgiving as he sized up the other man. When Punk had called him, detailing how Tasha had been in Jon's arms, Colby had immediately jumped in his rental car and stopped just long enough to drop his latest fling off because he was not going to give Jon the chance to steal her away. He'd gotten her away from the blond once before and he fully intended on doing so again, he just had to get the chance to talk to her alone to do it.

“Ex-girlfriend, Colby,” Natasha snapped at him, drawing both men's attention toward her. She was livid now and her temper grew by the moment. He'd come all this way and couldn't even bother to acknowledge she was in the room after his monumental fuck up? “Unless what you have to say is an explanation for what the fuck you did, I don't want to hear it.”

“Are you really going to listen if I told you what happened?” he asked and moved closer to her. He took in the way she was dressed and resisted the urge to turn around and punch Jon in the face. The man had wasted no time in putting his claim all over her.

“Oh, I'll listen. Believe me, I'll listen real well,” she said and crossed her arms over her chest. Just because she was willing to listen though did not mean she was going to take him back under any circumstances. Natasha lived by the philosophy of one and done. If she gave you her trust and you broke it, there would be no second chances. But she needed to know the reason, if only for her own peace of mind.

“Okay, good, that's good. Can we go somewhere to talk so we don't have an audience?” he asked softly and reached out to touch her. When she flinched back away from him, Jon was right there to make sure he didn't get any closer and it was pissing him off. “Look, Jon, this doesn't concern you, okay? Back off!”

“Like hell it doesn't. I'm the one that found her outside the fuckin' hotel room and stopped her from getting back in her car,” Jon said and stepped up to the other man. “Do you have any idea how upset she was? She probably woulda fuckin' wrecked the car, asshole, so don't tell me this doesn't concern me!”

“Yeah, I can see how long it took you to get her out of her clothes too. Let me guess, you're being the best friend, offering her the comfort of your arms,” Colby snapped back at him, breathing hard, “When are you going to get it through your damned head that she's mine? It's like you forget that you're the one who walked away from her. You _lost_ , Jon. You just handed over the prize but you never should have looked back. I'm not going to let you take her from me now!”

“She's not a prize to be won, fucker. And walked away? Don't put this on me like I thought she wasn't worth it,” Jon replied lowly. He could feel Natasha's gaze burning into him and he knew it wouldn't be long before she started asking questions. Fuck, this wasn't a direction he wanted this conversation to have gone in but leave it to Colby to try and drive a wedge between them.

“But that's what you did, isn't it? Walking away... it's what you're good at, isn't it? You walked away from her. You walked away from me and Roman. Hell, you're walking away from the WWE,” he said and smiled when he saw Jon's expression darken. It was no secret now that he wasn't resigning or his reasoning why and Colby wasn't above using that knowledge against his friend.

“We're not talkin' about my choices here, asshole. We're talkin' about yours,” Jon said and turned to look at Natasha. There were questions burning in her eyes, but this wasn't the time for them. He wasn't going to open himself up like that with Colby watching. If she wanted to talk after though, he supposed he owed her that much. “You said you had an explanation for her. Start talkin'.”

“I guess you're right. It's not like you're an important part of her life anyway,” Colby said and turned to look at Natasha who seemed to be waiting rather impatiently and he ran a hand through his messy hair. “Not here. Come back to the house and we can talk, 'Tasha.”

“I'm not going anywhere with you. You wanted to talk, so talk,” she said and watched him debating with himself. When he turned to go back to the door, she cleared her throat, “Once you walk out of here, it's finished. The chance for explanations will be over. Leave the key to my house on your way out. Or... you know, never mind. I'll just have the locks changed anyway. Keep the key. It can serve as a reminder of the biggest fuck up of your life.”

“Fine, you want to do this here? I fucked up. All right,” he said and turned to look at her again. His hope of turning her anger on Jon had failed so now he just had to convince her that he hadn't meant to screw up.

“Yeah, I'd say you did. I'm waiting for that explanation. Let's start with an easy question then,” she said and crossed her arms under her chest. “How long has this been going on?”

“Today was the first day I'd laid eyes on her,” Colby replied, which was the truth. He'd never seen the woman before today. Not that there hadn't been other women in the past, but she hadn't specifically asked if there had been others. “She was part of the Make A Wish families that came in for the show. I'd met her backstage at the meet and greet, she was having a hard time of it. Her brother was one of the kids. We got to talking and we met after the show for drinks. It was supposed to be just conversation, nothing more.”

“Funny. From where I stood, you were the only one doing any talking. But then again, it is hard to talk with your mouth full, isn't it?” she snapped in irritation. “Not to mention, the last time I checked, my house didn't resemble a fucking bar.”

“Come on, Tash,” Colby said softly in an attempt to break through the wall she'd erected, “You said you'd listen. Look, we did go to the bar but after... she was still too upset to go back to her hotel and I needed to go back to the house anyway after the dipshit waitress dumped a pitcher of beer on me. That's the only reason she was at the house. I needed to change and then when I came downstairs so we could leave again, she was crying. I tried to comfort her and... I dunno, things just happened. I never meant to hurt you.”

Natasha just stared at him for a moment and then started laughing, even through the sting of tears. Quickly she wiped them away, knowing how she must look at the moment. “Right. And here I was thinking you were just a piece of shit for cheating but now you're just admitting to being hot garbage. You don't see a problem with this?”

“'Tasha, I admitted to fucking up. What more do you want me to say?” Colby said and tried to go to her again but she pushed him away. Once more, Jon stepped up to make sure he couldn't put his hands on his girl and he just barely resisted the urge to push the other man away.

“What can you say? Assuming you're telling me the truth, it means that you took advantage of someone who was emotionally distraught. You preyed upon someone who was weak. You know, this has been a real eye opener because now I see you for who you really are. But I'm glad I found out now, instead of wasting any more of my time with you. Fact is, I wish I'd never met you.”

“And you think I wasn't upset? I get to see articles day in and day out of you having lunch with that asshole Anthony! I told you I didn't want you to do those scenes, but there you are, flaunting your tits and ass in front of the camera. You might as well have gone into porn! I'm the only one who should get to look at you like that but now the whole fucking world is going to get to see you! What's next? Are you going to be posting nudes on your instagram? Anything for a little bit of fame, right?” Colby yelled, his temper getting the best of him. When she looked like he'd slapped her, he pressed on, “And you talk about me like I'm trash... like I'm the only one who would mess up like that. What about Jon here? You think he brought you up here out of the goodness of his heart? I'm betting his arms have been all around you, waiting for the chance to make a move. You're already dressed like you belong to him! If I hadn't shown up, how long would it have been before you were fucking him to get back at me!”

“You'd know all about how popular posting nude photos is now, wouldn't you?” she replied and stared at him hard. Sure, he might not have been the one to let them get out and he might have gotten fined for it, but she knew he'd be lying if he said he hadn't enjoyed the way his fans had eagerly snapped up the photos. The way he was staring at her was pissing her off. She should have known it would all come back to the damned movie. It was time to put the man down hard and fast, because she wasn't sure how much more of this she could take. “And what Jon and I do from here on out? Is none of your damned concern anymore. Feel free to wonder though when you're with your next one and done conquest.”

“From here on out?” Colby asked and felt a wave of fury wash through him. “Oh let me guess, you've already been fucking him. All this time, the coffee dates and shit... tell me, Tasha, were you fucking around on me? I always wondered if there was a reason Jon wouldn't stop following you around like a lovesick puppy panting after a bitch in heat. You know... now I'm not feeling so bad about finding girls to keep me company at night.”

Natasha felt the blood drain from her face. His words were like a slap to the face, leaving her cold. Of course he would think that. She'd never once been unfaithful to him, but there he stood accusing her of such a despicable act. “Get out, Colby.”

“No! You're going to fucking answer me! How long have you been sleeping with him?” Colby yelled and tried to push past Jon to get to her. He'd always dismissed the possibility before, because why the fuck would she go for Jon when she had him in her bed but now, now he couldn't be so sure and she wasn't denying it.

“Hey! Back the fuck off of her, asshole! Ain't nothin' happened between us,” Jon yelled and shoved Colby back before he could put his hands on her. Colby looked like he was two seconds away from swinging and there was no way in hell he was going to let her get caught up in that.

“Then what the fuck did she mean by from here on out? Huh? Don't think I'm not on to you, Jon,” he snapped and ripped Jon's hands off of him. “You've always wanted to fuck her! Don't think I haven't noticed, you aren't that fucking subtle, asshole!”

“It means just what it sounds like,” Natasha said, her voice rising to match his. “We're through, Colby! We were finished the minute I caught you in _my_ bed with another woman. Whatever I do from now on is not your fucking concern! Don't project your guilty fucking conscious on us. Just because you can't keep your dick in your pants doesn't mean he's like _you_! Jon's been nothing but a friend all this time but you know what? Now that I know who the fuck you really are I wish he'd been the one to ask me out in London! It would have meant I wouldn't have wasted a year of my life on a loser like you! Get out!”

“Fine but when you catch him fucking everything with two legs, don't be surprised. He's got a different girl in his room every damned night,” Colby snapped and then turned and stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

“Asshole,” Jon muttered and then turned to make sure that Natasha was okay. The moment the door was closed she'd collapsed back to the bed like a puppet that had had its strings cut. “Sweetheart.”

“I'm sorry,” she said and fought back the sob that wanted to escape. She hadn't meant to drag Jon into her problems like this and the shit that Colby had said... she knew it wasn't true. She'd dropped in on them unexpectedly enough times to know better. “I shouldn't have used you like that.”

“I'm not mad about it, sweetheart,” Jon replied and carefully sat next to her. He couldn't be mad, not when he'd been thinking the same damned thing since this cluster fuck had begun. He sighed then and put an arm around her so that she was tucked into his side. “We'll give it a few minutes before we go down to the car, just in case the asshole is lurking in the lobby.”

“I wouldn't doubt it. He may not be able to rent a room but someone will probably let him bunk with them,” she said and sighed. Her eyes closed and she leaned further into him for the moment to try to collect her thoughts. She couldn't help but replay the entire conversation in her mind and she wondered if she dared to ask Jon about what Colby had said.

“I can feel you thinking, sweetheart. Don't get lost in your head,” he said after a while when she made no move to say more. She'd barely even moved, not that he minded that much. If his arm around her made her feel even the slightest bit better, they could sit there all night.

“I just... what Colby said earlier,” she started and immediately felt him stiffen. She hurried on because she didn't want him to draw the wrong conclusions about what she was asking. “What did he mean earlier, when he said you walked away?”

For a moment Jon said nothing and then he sighed, “You sure you want to know?”

“I'm tired of not knowing the full story, Jon. Help me out here, what have I been missing?” she asked quietly and felt the sigh that escaped him. It was almost enough for her to tell him to forget it, that if he didn't want to talk about it she didn't need to know. Almost.

“You remember how I introduced you to Colby... well, he'd been riding my ass because he was tired of me ditching him after the shows. A few people had caught us hanging out together and he'd seen the photos,” Jon said even though she already knew that much.

“I remember. One of the first things he said was he wasn't surprised you'd ditched him for me. But that was only after he found out who the hell I was,” she replied softly. Oh, there had been speculation but she hadn't gotten where she was without becoming gifted at makeup transformation, specifically contouring. It had never been anything extreme, but it had been just enough to keep the paparazzi guessing as to her identity. Even Jon had been amazed at how well she'd pulled it off.

“Right. Biggest fuckin' mistake I made because then he was always around. It was like he had radar specifically for you with how often he popped up unannounced. I'd thought it was coincidence at first but the man has his ways of getting what he wants,” he said with a shake of his head and a sigh, “About six months after that, well... I'd come close to actually asking you out on a real date a few times but something always came up. Colby would show up, or one of us would have to cancel and I'd just... never gotten around to it. And then one day, Colby approached me about you.”

Natasha lifted her head to look at him, although her mind was in turmoil. She remembered that time well, because she'd been hoping that Jon would make a move. She'd felt something for him back then, but she also hadn't wanted to ruin the friendship they'd had. She'd managed to convince herself that asking him if he wanted to see more of her than just occasional coffee dates seemed like a good way to do just that, and so she'd waited. The hope she'd had died the day that Colby had asked her out right in front of Jon and he'd said nothing.

“Why? If you felt that way why...” she started and then shook her head, “I don't understand.”

Jon had known the question was coming but that didn't make him any more eager to answer it. Yet, he refused to lie to her. Not now, not ever. “Because you deserved better.”

“One of these days, Jon,” she said with a sigh and reached up to cup his cheek. She wasn't going to touch on his feelings just yet. Not when there was something more important that she needed to address, “You're going to realize you're more than this... image that you've built in your head. You're more than the lunatic you pretend to be, more than the street dog others labeled you as. You need to get it through your head that other people aren't any better than you. And who are you to say what someone does or doesn't deserve? Jon... if you'd asked, I would have said yes.”

“Well that just makes me an idiot now, doesn't it?” he asked with a laugh that lacked any humor in it. This was why they'd never spoken of such things, because she saw the good in people, in spite of all their flaws. She never had been willing to tolerate people talking down to him, even in jest, and it had been the cause of more than one argument between her and Colby.

“It makes you human,” she said softly and then allowed her hand to drop. Before it completed its journey back to her lap though, Jon had caught it and then his thumb was stroking down the backs of her fingers. “We all make mistakes, Jon. It's whether or not you can learn from them that counts.”

“And if I said I could learn from this one?” he asked and then immediately wished he could take the question back. Now was not the time to be pushing her for answers. “Never mind, forget I asked.”

“Jon... you don't have to answer this if you don't want to,” she said and stared at the way his hand held her own. She wasn't ready for another relationship, not by a long shot but for her own peace of mind, she needed to know what Jon felt. If for no other reason so she didn't hurt him because that was the last thing she wanted to do. “Did you ever... get over those feelings?”

“No,” he admitted roughly and waited for her to pull her hand away. The relief he felt when she didn't allowed some of the tension to drain out of his body but he knew this conversation was far from over. “Not gonna lie to you, sweetheart. I knew I loved you the day we got caught out in the rain in Portland. You turned to look at me and I expected you to be pissed because it'd been my idea to walk to the cafe but you... you just laughed. Like it was the greatest fuckin' thing and then you started dancin' in the rain, draggin' me along with you. I knew right then I'd do anything I could to make you happy.”

“Including letting me go,” she whispered and then leaned her head against his shoulder. It explained so much, considering the way he'd distanced himself from her when she'd accepted the date with Colby. Eventually he'd come back around but for a few months she'd wondered what she'd done wrong to make him leave her. Now, she realized he'd had to get his own feelings in order and now, it was time for her to work on hers. She had so much to resolve herself, with Colby and now with Jon. “I can't... not so soon after what happened with him, Jon.”

Jon just nodded to that and then leaned in to kiss the top of her head. He'd been expecting as much, seeing as they'd all thought her and Colby were going to go the distance. He didn't want her to come to him because she was looking for someone to fill the holes the asshole had left behind. He wanted her to come to him because she felt something for him too. “I've waited on you for almost two years now, Natasha. If my feelings were going to change, they would have done so by now... I'm willing to wait until you're ready, if you ever are. And if you're not, just know I'm still going to be here because I'd rather have you in my life, even as a friend, than not at all.”


	2. Chapter Two

_**Chapter Two** _

That night, Jon had driven Natasha to her hotel and although nothing had happened between them, she'd asked him to stay the night. Her reasoning was sound and that decision had proved to be the right choice since they'd gotten a call the next morning that Colby had returned to his hotel room and caused such a disturbance that security had been called. Apparently, he'd not been happy with his dismissal, or the fact that no one had been there to open the door when he'd pounded on it at three in the morning. It had also given Jon the opportunity to escort her back to her house the next day, where he helped her to change the locks and the security codes to her gate and alarm system.

From there though, Jon had given her space. Natasha had returned to Atlanta for the next month to resume filming and he'd returned to wrestling, biding his time until his contract had run out. For the first couple of weeks, he'd kept his distance, only responding when she initiated contact. She'd needed time to accept what had happened and decide what she really wanted and he knew he couldn't rush her through the process. But damned if he didn't ache with the need to make sure that she was truly okay.

When it came right down to it, text messages were a poor substitute for having her in front of him, but Jon made do until she'd been the one to reach out with a phone call. There was a hesitation in her voice, like she'd been afraid of the reception she would get but he'd quickly erased those fears when he let her know just how glad he was to finally hear her voice. The pain of losing Colby had still been there but it had lessened to a degree and she'd reassured him that she was getting better with each passing day.

It had taken three of months of texting and phone calls before they'd even broached the subject of meeting in person again. He was more than willing but he wanted to move at whatever pace she was comfortable at, especially since Colby had been doing his damnedest to sabotage their budding relationship. The man had been everywhere, lurking, taking photos of Jon whenever he interacted with his fans and sending them to Natasha, insinuating that Jon was living up to his reputation, right up to the time that he'd left the WWE. Thankfully Natasha had known better, especially since one of the times that Colby had texted her with his juicy, inside information, she'd been on a video chat with Jon and she could clearly see he was alone in his hotel room, contrary to what her ex had stated.

There wasn't anything he wouldn't do for her and he worked to prove that every single day. He'd become her confidant, giving her a shoulder to lean on when she'd voiced her fears about what Colby might have brought home after fucking one of his many flings. He'd listened when she cried in relief after she'd gotten her test results back that said she was negative for any diseases. They'd spoken of the future, and how grateful she was that she hadn't fucked her life up by becoming pregnant by the asshole. It meant that Colby Lopez was out of her life for good and he had no reason whatsoever to make a comeback.

Their first face to face meeting since the breakup had been because Jon had flown out to where she was giving a television interview in San Diego. The look of surprise, and affection on Natasha's face when she'd found him waiting for her after her interview had made the whole trip worth it. Jon had wanted to prove to her that no matter what had happened between her and the asshole, he was always going to be there for her and when her arms had wrapped around him, he'd known he'd succeeded.

That visit had proven to Natasha that no matter what hell Colby had put her through, and the time and distance that she and Jon had spent apart, she wasn't going to lose him. They'd spent the rest of the day together, reconnecting and by the time Jon had to leave to go to one of his own work obligations, they'd both realized that she'd well and truly left Colby Lopez behind.

And now, it was May 25th, the night he'd debuted at Double or Nothing and announced to the world he'd signed with AEW. The rush he'd gotten from being in the ring again, even for those few, brief minutes had been liberating. No longer was he being stifled by men in suits, by people who couldn't write their way out of a wet paper bag much less write a decent story line or even a promo. At long last, he had control of his own destiny and damned if it didn't feel good. The screams of the crowd still echoed around him and followed him when he stepped backstage. It was a high he would never get tired of.

“Was it everything you were hoping it would be?”

It wasn't the question that had made Jon turn, but the voice behind it. At first, he wondered if he'd just imagined hearing her voice but there she was, dressed in a pair of skinny jeans and a simple t-shirt with her auburn hair spilling over her shoulders. The pleased smile she wore was what finally kicked his ass into moving and within moments he'd crossed the short distance between them to pull her into his arms. “It is now. This is a surprise, sweetheart. You should have told me you were coming.”

“And miss the look of shock on your face? Never,” Natasha replied and smiled when he just held her tighter. People stared at them curiously, but neither of them paid much attention to those that lurked in the background.

“Sneaky, I like it,” he said and took her hand before he started to lead her through the corridors. If he was going to get to spend any sort of time with her, he didn't want to to be backstage at an event. They needed to go somewhere quiet where they could talk freely. He scanned their surroundings as he went until he found the man he was looking for, “Hey, Darby! Gonna need a rain check on the drinks tonight. I'll catch up with you another time!”

“Really, Mox? Damn it, what am I supposed to tell the others?”

Mox paused to look at Natasha for a moment, his gaze searching hers until he found what he was looking for. Without breaking eye contact, he called back over his shoulder, “Tell them my girl finally came home.”

Before Darby could ask any further questions, Jon had them moving again despite the confusion they were leaving behind. Natasha's soft laughter made him smile with relief, because she hadn't contradicted him, nor did she seem to have taken offense to his claim on her. When they finally cleared the building, he paused long enough to pull her into his arms again, “You got a rental in the lot?”

“Yeah, what about you? Sounded like you'd planned to go out for drinks tonight,” she said and breathed in deeply. The shirt he'd let her borrow those few months ago no longer carried his scent and she'd quickly realized she'd missed it. She'd had to stop herself more than once from being creepy and asking if he'd send her along another one of his shirts.

“Plans change but you're right. I'd just planned to call for a ride since we were gonna be drinking. You mind giving me a lift?” he asked and then laughed at the look of disbelief she gave him.

“Like I'd come all this way just to see you and then expect you find your own way back,” she scoffed and then grinned up at him. “So where am I taking you?”

“My place,” he replied and then released her so they could start walking again. Fortunately her car wasn't that far away and soon enough, she was unlocking the doors, “Did you already get a place for the night?”

“Reservations but I haven't checked in yet. I came here straight from the airport,” she replied softly and tossed him the keys before she climbed in the passenger's seat. She hadn't even been sure if she was going to make it before the show ended due to delays at the airport. She'd missed most of the show as a result, but it didn't matter, she'd seen the one person she'd come to see.

“Good, you're not going to need them,” he said and settled into the driver's seat after adjusting it for his longer legs. A few moments later they were both buckled in and they were on the road. At her look of surprise, he just arched a brow, “Like I'd let you show up like this and then tell you to go to a hotel.”

“I didn't want to presume,” she said and made herself comfortable for the short trip. His scoff made her snicker, because since they'd become friends, he hadn't allowed her to stay at a hotel even once when they were in town together. He'd even offered to let her stay in his guest room when she was in Vegas but he was out of town, not that she'd ever taken him up on the offer. Looking back, she should have realized the extent of Jon's feelings for her because to her knowledge, she was the _only_ one who had a standing invitation into his home.

“You know better, sweetheart,” Jon said and shook his head as he pulled out of the arena parking lot. She'd stayed at his house before, even if she'd insisted he be home at the time. That had pretty much stopped once Colby had come into the picture, simply because of the other man's jealousy. Speaking of the asshole... Jon glanced over at her and then reached for her hand, “Have things calmed down any since you changed your number?”

“For the most part. I'm no longer getting the calls and texts at all hours but he did show up at my house two days ago,” she said and laced her fingers in with his. “He wanted another chance and tried to apologize again but it didn't work out the way he was hoping.”

“I'm sure it didn't,” Jon replied easily although he threw her a concerned look. Not that he didn't trust her, but he didn't trust Colby and after he'd had to stop the man from potentially putting his hands on her, he wasn't happy about the idea of her being alone with him. “He didn't start any shit though, right?”

“I would have told you if he had. It actually worked out for the best though; I still had a box of his crap at the house that he'd left behind so when I saw him parked out at the front gate, I had the pool boy take it out to him,” she said and saw Jon's questioning look. She just smiled, since she knew Jon hadn't really met the staff she had come in to care for the house while she was out of town, “The hot, 22 year old pool boy, who was wearing only a pair of wet shorts.”

Jon couldn't help but laugh at that, because he could just imagine the look of disbelief and irritation on Colby's face. “Did you tell him to introduce himself as your hot new boy toy?”

“I admit, it was tempting but no,” she replied and gave him a look of promise, “Why would I tell him that when I have you?”

Thank God they were stopped at a red light because that statement alone was enough to pull his attention completely on to her. He reached out then, his hand sliding gently across her cheek even as his eyes darkened, “Your damned right you do. No matter what, sweetheart. I'm always going to be yours.”

“I'm tired of waiting, Jon. All this time, you've been here waiting and I've been too blind to see it. If you still want me... I'm yours,” Natasha said and couldn't help but lean into that simple touch and her eyes closed as she savored it. The look in his eyes though, made her tremble with anticipation. She'd finally admitted he had a hold on her and she had finally let every last attachment she'd had to Colby go. A horn going off behind them made her jump in her seat and she laughed as she turned forward while Jon resumed driving.

Fortunately, they were only five minutes out from his house and the rest of the trip was made in relative silence. Once they were safely out of the car though? All bets were off. Jon had just led her into the house, leaving her suitcase just inside the door when he'd pulled her into his arms, “Say it again, sweetheart. I need to hear it.”

Natasha looked up at him then and felt the tension that ran through his body, tightly coiled like he was ready to snap. Slowly she ran her hands up his bare arms and then brought them up to his face. It had been a long few months, but through it all, he'd been her rock and the feelings she'd felt before had come rushing back, stealing her breath away with its intensity. She knew what he wanted, but she was about to take even further, “I love you, Jon.”

Jon just stared at her silently, taking in every single detail and memorizing her face in that moment. He'd been waiting for two years to hear her say those three little words and he wanted to savor the moment. Almost reverently he leaned in and brushed his lips against hers, taking his time despite the adrenaline rush he was still high on. When he finally pulled away, the longing he saw in her expression matched his own and he quickly lifted her up against him. “I love you too, baby... and I'm going to spend the rest of forever showing you just how much.”

“What about making up for lost time?” she asked and wrapped her arms around him. Her fingers teased at the nape of his neck and she found that she missed the longer curls that she'd often thought of sinking her fingers into.

“Oh, there's going to be plenty of that too,” he replied and carried her into his bedroom. They might have a lot to talk about but for now, he wanted to feel her in his arms, to reassure himself that this wasn't just a dream that he'd be waking up from soon. Even if she wasn't ready for him to strip her clothes off and make love to her until dawn, it'd be enough that he got to hold her.

Natasha felt her back hit the mattress and she slipped her shoes off, letting them drop to the floor even as he settled on top of her. A teasing smile tugged at her lips then when he'd made himself comfortable between her thighs and she felt how aroused he was already. A soft pout touched her lips when he did nothing more than wrap his arms around her, but then, she supposed he was attempting to be a gentleman. “What would you say if I told you I was kind of hoping we wouldn't have to leave the house this weekend?”

The meaning behind the question wasn't lost on him, particularly when she rested her hands on his hips and pulled him harder against her.

“I'd say we're not leaving the house then. Not if I have anything to say about it,” he murmured and then hissed when she moved beneath him again and he settled more firmly between her thighs. If there'd been any doubt as to how much he desired her, it'd been obliterated when she'd rocked up against him. “Fuck, baby... I'm tryin' to hold onto my control here but you're making it hard.”

“Believe me, it's kind of hard to miss how hard things are for you,” she said and rolled her hips again. He responded in kind and rocked against her hard. The move, combined with the feel of his lips on her neck tore a soft moan from her and to her delight, he did it again. She was beginning her wardrobe choice for the day. “Fuck, I knew I should have worn a skirt today.”

“Baby, if you had we might not have made it out of the fuckin' arena,” he said with absolute sincerity. The woman beneath him tested his control on the best of days. If she'd put herself in a skirt and then told him she was his? He would have been done for. As it was, he was fucking thankful because she deserved better than to be taken in a locker room, where anyone walking by could hear what he planned to do to her. No, he wanted to keep her all to himself and not have to worry about the assholes who wanted her for their own.

When Jon pushed himself upright, he could see the look of confusion that entered her expression but it didn't last for long. Not once he'd grasped the hem of her shirt and started pushing it up, exposing her body inch by teasing inch. It would seem that her patience was limited as well though, because when he'd taken too long, she'd gripped the garment in her own hands and lifted up just enough that she could pull it over her head. The sight of the deep red lace that greeted him made his cock harden still further. “Fuck, baby, you're killing me.”

“Should I cover back up then?” she asked and teasingly reached for the shirt she'd discarded off to the side. Her fingers never got the chance to even brush against the fabric though, because she found her hands pinned to the bed above her head, his fingers wrapped around her slender wrists.

“Hell no. You started this, sweetheart and now you're going to let me unwrap the rest of you... little tease,” he murmured and then raked his gaze down the length of her body. His fingers trailed down the length of her arms and he gave her a pointed look to keep her hands exactly where he'd put them even as he moved to trace the edge of her bra and then circled her nipple lazily through the lace. “Don't move them, sweetheart. Not unless you want me to tie them there.”

“You say that like I'd object,” she murmured back to him and then arched up into his hand when he lightly pinched her nipple in response. “Is that what you've fantasized about, Jon? All of the wicked things you could do to me?”

“Keep talkin' like that and you're gonna find out, sweetheart,” Jon growled and then tugged the lace down, exposing her breasts to his view. At the rate she was going, she was going to be damned lucky if he didn't rip the damned thing off of her. Any response she might have had though, died when his mouth closed over her nipple and his teeth lightly pulled on the taut peak. He smirked then at the way she arched beneath him, “Mmmm nothing to say now?”

“Hasn't anyone ever told you it's rude to talk with your mouth full?” she asked and then moaned again when he lavished attention on her breasts, only to whine when he stopped. It would figure that now he was the one doing the teasing.

“Keep it up, baby. You should know I'm keepin' score of how many times I'm gonna have to spank you for that smart mouth of yours,” he murmured and then smirked at the way her expression darkened.

The idea of being spanked by him had her body heating up still further and she bit her lip at the thought of his hand sliding over her ass just before the swing sting of pain followed. “Really? How many am I up to now?”

“Five but if you aren't careful, I'll double it,” Jon said and flicked the front clasp to her bra open before he pushed the straps down her shoulders. He watched her chest rise and fall while he skimmed his fingertips down her sides for a moment but then she sat up and wrapped her arms around him. He smirked at the feel of her breasts pressing against his chest. She might have broken his instructions to stay put, but he'd let it slide... for now. Instead he slid his hand into her hair and gripped the silky strands tightly to guide her head back so he had complete access to her neck. When she straddled his thighs, his other hand went to her ass to hold her in place even as she rocked against him. “You'd like that though wouldn't you, baby?”

Oh, he had no idea how much she'd like it but it'd been so long since she'd been with someone who knew what the hell they were doing when it came to that sort of pleasure. To think he might be able to take her to the edge and then hold her there while she broke... the thought had her body tightening and she knew her panties were about to be ruined. “Maybe... depends on if you do it right.”

“Oh, I think you'll find I know just how to touch you, baby. I'm about to strip those jeans off of you and bend you right over my lap,” he growled and then let his head drop back when she nipped at a spot on his neck. He smoothed his hand over her ass and then gripped it tighter so she was forced to grind against him. “I'd make you wait for it, letting you feel my every touch... I'd watch you try to spread your legs further and maybe I'd give you what you wanted... what you need, even before the first swing of my hand.”

“And what would that be?” she whispered even as she stroked her hands down his bare chest. Their pants needed to be gone but so far, he hadn't released her. Not yet anyway. She licked her lips and delved even further, her hand going to the belt he wore and unbuckled it. The button on his pants was next and she couldn't wait to actually touch him.

“My fingers... You'd spread your legs, giving me a look at that pretty pussy of yours cause you know how much I need to touch you... and I'd give it to you,” he growled out when her fingers wrapped around his cock and he thrust up into her hand. “You'd like that wouldn't you? Feelin' my fingers pushing so deep into you. I'd finger fuck you nice and slow and get you right to the edge, so you're panting and quivering, right there with your ass in the air and that's when I'd do it... one smack at a time and then bringing you right to the edge in between until you're begging me to let you cum, baby.”

A slow smirk tugged at his lips when Natasha tensed in his arms and the soft moan slipped from her lips. Oh, he knew damned well what had happened and his hand on her ass moved just long enough to pull her jeans open. From there it was easy to slip his hand past the waistband so that it rested against bare skin, “Mmmm, did you cum, baby? If I slide my fingers just a bit deeper, how wet am I going to find you, Natasha?”

“Why don't you touch me and find out?” she asked and then moaned when he did just that. Of course, the angle and tightness of her jeans made things difficult but fuck... just the feel of his fingers sliding through her slick folds had her needing even more. “Fuck, please, Jon!”

“Lay back on the bed, now,” he said and removed his hands from her jeans just long enough to grip them by the waistband and slowly slide them down her legs. The matched red lace panties she wore clung to her body and he leaned in, his lips brushing against her stomach as he slid his fingers against the edge of the lace at her hips and pulled them down. The sight of her bare pussy had him licking his lips, “Oh you naughty girl. I'm going to enjoy this.”

“So will I, if you stop talking,” she said and gave him a teasing grin, just before she moved her hands again, sending them down to the apex of her thighs. Her fingers slipped through her folds and she lightly traced her finger in a circle over her clit. So sue her, he hadn't told her she wasn't allowed to move after she'd ignored his first order. “And here I had plans for that mouth of yours but if you'd rather talk than play...”

“Thin ice, baby... very thin ice,” he growled at her and then gripped her wrists again, pushing them to the bed. In the next moment, he spread her legs further and then slid down between them. “Here's how it's going to work, baby. You're going to lay there and keep your hands to yourself. You don't cum until I say so.”

“And the punishment if I break the rules?” she asked before she could stop herself. She held her breath when his gaze locked with hers and held it when he dipped his tongue in low and took his first taste. She expected him to back off for the moment, to answer her question but he didn't. Instead, the tip of his tongue circled her clit twice before he upped the stakes and slid two fingers slowly into her.

“You won't break the rules,” Jon assured her and slowly pumped his fingers deeper into her. She was soaked and clenching around his fingers, so close to an orgasm but he refused to give her what she needed to just push her over that edge. He kept her there, right on the brink, taking his time to taste her, teasingly drawing her clit between his lips before flicking it with his tongue. And all the while her fingers tangled in the bed sheets, clenching and pulling so she didn't break the rules. “Good girl. You're right there aren't you. Fighting to hold it back... just so I don't stop. You're so fucking tight too.... I can't wait to feel you on my cock, baby.”

Natasha didn't know how much longer she was going to be able to hold her orgasm back now that he'd started talking again. The rasp of need in his voice had her body tightening and she couldn't stop the soft moans that escaped her. She hadn't moved her hands from where he'd put them, but that didn't stop her from rolling her hips in an attempt to get his mouth back on her and God, when he finally did she began to shake. She wasn't going to be able to hold back any longer, not when he was tormenting her the way he was. She was begging him now, pleading with him to allow her to cum and when he finally gave her permission, the force of her orgasm tore her breath away.

If she thought he was going to give her a moment to catch her breath though, she was mistaken. Instead, he stared at her with desire and kept moving his fingers slow and deep in her, fucking her with them through it while she writhed on the bed. She'd made a mess of both of them, his hand was coated in her essence and still he devoured her with long slow licks that left her gasping for air and begging him for more.

“Gonna take you slow and deep now, baby,” he said when he'd forced her to cum for him again and she lay there with her thighs trembling. When he finally stood up, he watched her hungry gaze lock onto him and he wasted no time in removing his boots and then stripping out of his cargo pants. He was positively aching for her now and wanted nothing more than to be buried deep within her. “You still on the pill or do I need to...”

“It's taken care of,” she murmured and looked him over slowly. When she'd gotten the idea of meeting him for his debut a month ago, one of the first things she'd done was to make an appointment with her doctor. There was no way she'd be able to get through the night without having the chance to feel all of him. A soft moan left her lips when his skin slid against hers and then he pressed her deeper into the mattress. The kiss started slowly, with nipping and teasing at his lower lip allowing her to taste herself on his tongue but then he was pushing into her, slow and deep like he'd said he would and she lost the ability to think beyond the pleasure of having him in her. “More, Jon... please!”

“I told you... slow and deep, baby,” he replied and then thrust against her then when she arched into him. She was so tight around him, he wanted nothing more than to give into the desire to take her hard and fast, but he was proving a point here... and that was if she decided to play the game and be a little tease, it was a challenge he was sure to accept... and win.

When her hands moved to his hips and tightened in an effort to pull him deeper, he'd grabbed her wrists and then held them over her head with one hand. Her legs wrapped around his hips tightly in response but he'd merely smirked and pushed deeper into her. His cock dragged against her g-spot and the way her body tightened around his cock only encouraged him to do it again. “Fuck, baby... you trying to make me lose control right now?”

“Is it working?” she asked, her breath hitching when he pushed into her again, harder this time. The friction was exquisite and she rolled her hips against him, pushing them both closer to the breaking point. She was so close to falling over the edge and this time, she wasn't going to hold it back. Not when he felt so fucking good.

“Keep it up and find out,” he said and hissed when he felt her tightening again. If she wanted him to lose control, she was going to get it when he took her in every room of the house. He'd known he would never get enough of her, and she was proving him right. The moment she came was his undoing. The feel of her tightening around him shredded the last of his self control and he began to move hard and fast, fucking her through her climax and straight into another while he stared down at her, watching her break beneath him. “That's it, baby, told you I was gonna give you exactly what you needed, didn't I?”

Jon released the hold he had on her wrists then and pushed himself up on his knees even as he grabbed her hips and pulled her even higher. Once he had her where he wanted her, he pushed her knees apart so he could watch his cock driving into her. “Naughty girl, pushing me to fuck you harder and now look at the mess you've made here... you fuckin' drenched my cock when you came.”

“You say that like you think I won't clean up the mess I made,” she said and watched the way his expression darkened still further. The way his cock jerked hard within her, followed by the desperate snap of his hips told her just how much he liked that idea. “You like that idea, don't you? My lips wrapped around that thick cock of yours, tasting myself on you... sucking you clean.”

There was a challenging glint in her eyes, one that pushed him into moving and he slowly pulled out of her. Her gaze immediately went to his cock and he watched her slowly lick her lips as he pulled back and crooked a finger at her, “You talk a big game, little girl, let's see the follow through. I've been dreaming about having your lips wrapped around me for a long fuckin' time.”

Natasha smirked at him then and rose up to her knees, only to grab him and push him to the bed. He went easily, not that she had a chance of moving him if he hadn't wanted to go and she straddled his legss. Her body ached with need and she wanted to be put out that he'd pulled out of her but she wasn't going to back down now. Slowly she eased herself down, never breaking eye contact and traced her tongue from the base of his shaft up to the tip before she wrapped her lips around him. The hand that came to rest in her hair tightened and she carefully worked her way down his cock, refusing to look away.

Natasha's hands settled on his thighs, feeling the muscles tighten under her touch and she knew he was about to lose control, not that she minded one bit. They'd see just who won this little power struggle between them and came out on top.

“Use your hands too, baby,” Jon said and slowly began thrusting up into her mouth. She hadn't attempted to take him in completely but there was time for that later. He knew he was in trouble when she just hummed around his cock though, and her right hand slipped between her own legs instead of wrapping around his cock like he'd expected. His hand tightened in warning but she just moaned around him and then her hips were moving as she got herself off while he fucked her mouth. “Oh, you're really askin' for it aren't you, baby?”

Natasha lifted her mouth from him for a moment only to lick her lips and smirk teasingly at him while she rocked her hips, sliding her own fingers against her clit. A bolt of lust surged through her at the look in his eyes and she hummed thoughtfully even as she did it again, “Depends on what you are offering, Jon. Or is it a threat? Are you threatening me with a good time... Mox?”

The use of his ring name shifted something inside of him. He wasted no time in pulling her off of him and within moments, he had her pinned beneath him again. This time though, he had one hand in her hair, pushing her head down to the mattress and the other at her hip, pulling her ass up into the air. “You should know I don't threaten, baby. If I say it, it's a fuckin' promise. Did you have fun, teasing me? Maybe it's my turn to tease you... or maybe it really is a hard fucking that you need. Which is it, baby?”

The feel of his cock teasing her folds had Natasha closing her eyes and trying to push back into him, needing to feel him in her. When he just held her firmly in place though, she growled and slicked her fingers down between her thighs... at least until she felt a sharp smack to her ass that she knew would turn her skin a lovely shade of pink. “Fuck!”

“I don't think so, baby, that's my pussy right now and I want you to answer me,” he said and wrapped a hand around his shaft to guide it just where he wanted. He teased her clit with his cock, making her push into him again. “Tell me what I want to hear and I'll make you cum again.”

“I've been waiting for you to give it to me hard, Mox... but I'm beginning to think you're all talk,” she said, her voice full of sass and sarcasm. Oh, she knew better, of course, but she wasn't about to be meek and beg like he wanted, at least not yet. She knew she'd hit her mark when his hand tightened against her hip again and then he pushed into her again with a force that shoved her forward and forced a whimper through her lips.

“You better get used to being bent over, baby... because that's the position I'm going to keep you in this whole fuckin' weekend,” Jon said with a growl and began to move hard, fucking her with an intensity she was sure to feel for days. When it felt like her legs were going to give, he pulled her up harder against him which only forced his cock in deeper. She was shaking now, with sweat dampening her skin and her pussy tightening around him as he took his own pleasure from her. “This is what you wanted, isn't it? To be pinned down and fucked hard? All you had to do was ask, baby... I'll always give it to you just like you need. Now you're gonna fuckin' cum for me aren't you? You're already fuckin' dripping wet but you're gonna give me more. That's it, baby, you're doing so good...”

And fuck if she wasn't, pushing back against him, meeting him thrust for thrust. He couldn't possibly get any deeper and the way she tightened around him nearly pushed him over the edge. When she finally came though, the way she moaned his name was the trigger that had him giving into his own need to cum. The only thing that mattered in that moment was the feel of her wrapped around him and his thrusts became harder and deeper, only stilling once he was spent. Breathing hard, he slowly pulled away from her and sat back for a moment to admire the way his cum dripped from her body. Slowly he smoothed his palm over the spot he'd smacked earlier and then went further, dragging a fingertip through the wetness and to her clit, making her shiver. “You're so fuckin' sexy like this, baby.”

The rasp in his voice made her tremble again and she started to pull away, her legs threatening to give out from beneath her but his arm was there again, this time like a band around her waist to keep her ass up in the air. “Jon?”

“You don't even realize it do you?” he asked and then skimmed his fingers down her spine for a moment. He'd just cum but his cock was already twitching against his leg. He wasn't hard yet, but something told him it wouldn't be long before he needed to be inside her again. Slowly he stretched out beside her and then smirked as he settled her over his lap. His cock twitched again beneath her and her eyes widened. “Fuck, baby... don't be so surprised. I've marked you up... my cum is dripping from that tight little pussy of yours.”

His lips skimmed over her throat and his chest rose as he inhaled sharply, “You even smell like me now.”

“Is this where you start getting all territorial and possessive?” she asked and then stretched out languidly on top of him, her body deliciously sated for the moment. When his fingers started the slow slide up and down her back, she allowed her eyes to close for the moment. In spite of being hot and sticky, she had absolutely no desire to move, “Because if it is, I'm not going to complain.”

“After how long we've waited? You're damned right I am,” he replied and then held her closer when she pressed her lips to his. Having her there with him, like this, and knowing that her heart was his was everything he'd ever wanted. There was no way in hell he was going to let that go, not after everything that had happened. He was just about to push Natasha onto her back, so he could resume his explorations of her body when both his phone and hers chimed simultaneously. Her forehead dropped to his shoulder and he groaned in response, “Odds that it's something important?”

“Perhaps we'd better take a look.”


	3. Chapter Three

_**Chapter Three** _

_**'Have you seen this? [Link]'** _

The text had Colby confused but only until he'd clicked on the article and that confusion turned into a bone deep anger. 'It looks like romance is on the horizon! Is AEW star Jon Moxley sneaking around with Hollywood star Natasha Annesley?'

There, plastered on the article in brilliant color was a photo of Jon with 'Tasha in his arms. The look of adoration on his ex-girlfriend's face was one he was intimately familiar with, because she'd once looked at him that way. Despite his best efforts, all of his attempts to contact her had been in vain. Every phone call had been ignored, at least until she'd changed her number. The gifts he'd sent to her on the film set had been outright refused. The letters he'd sent to her through the mail? Marked return to sender. And his trips to both her houses in both Denver and St. Augustine had resulted in him being turned away at the gate. When Natasha had said it was over, she'd meant it and now? It looked like she was moving on. It was a crushing realization.

He'd lost. To Jon fucking Moxley.

It was like he wasn't even worthy of a second chance, and he'd done absolutely everything he could think of to get Natasha back. How was he supposed to make up for his fuck up if she wouldn't even hear him out? Yeah, he'd fucked up. He could admit that much but hadn't she once told him that everyone deserved a chance to make things right? But no, she'd walked away without even a backwards glance and though he'd mostly managed to keep what happened quiet, a few people still stared at him with knowing looks. Like he'd been caught with his dick out, again, and they found it funny. Like he'd gotten exactly what he'd deserved.

The anger that burned through him was all consuming and if she wasn't going to come back, to give him the second chance that he craved, he was going to make sure that she paid for it. Her and Jon both. His fingers flew over the phone as he typed out his response to Buddy, the person who'd sent him the text to begin with. _**'I'll take care of it.'**_

Once the text was sent, Colby went to his laptop and loaded up his email program. After his last scandal, TMZ had reached out to him for comment and he still had the journalist's email but even if he hadn't kept it, it wouldn't have mattered. There, at the top of the page, was a shiny new email from the journalist in question. He wasted no time in opening it and, just as he'd expected, it was an inquiry about his own relationship with Natasha and a request for a comment concerning the budding romance of her and Jon. For a moment, he considered what he wanted to say in response before he began to type.

_Mr. Sheffield,_

_Your email, and the article you refer to wasn't unexpected, nor surprising. I've often wondered as to the relationship between Jon and Natasha, even though both have claimed there was nothing more than friendship between them._

_You ask as to the status of my current relationship with Natasha Annesley and I admit, I'm questioning that myself. As you are aware, we do not often get to spend time together but we've strived to make our relationship work with our conflicting schedules. We make frequent plans to visit one another when we're in neighboring cities and I've gone out of my way to fly to her location when she couldn't travel due to her filming obligations. The last trip was just two weeks ago, where I flew to her home in St. Augustine. I'm not afraid to admit, being in her arms is like coming home and that weekend reconnecting with her was like a dream. But after seeing those photos of her and Jon, it's like my dream has become a nightmare that I can't wake up from._

_I've caught them in compromising positions before, but Natasha has always managed to explain what I thought I saw wasn't what had happened. Now though, I'm questioning everything, including how long they've been seeing each other behind my back. Just three months ago, I caught the two of them alone in Jon's hotel room and she was wearing nothing but a bathrobe. They passed it off as she got caught in the storm, but now I know better._

_I had no knowledge that she was meeting with Jon this weekend, as she'd told me she had an audition for a role up in New York City. So you can imagine my surprise to find out she's in Vegas, being photographed with the man who is supposed to be my brother. I've attempted to call Natasha since the article was released but every call has been declined. I can only assume she's panicking because her fling with Jon has been revealed and I've been left heartbroken. If only she'd answer my calls, I'd give her the chance to explain. Perhaps it's innocent, but her reluctance to talk to me is like a dagger of proof that's been plunged into my heart. I'm sure your next question is what happens next? I wish I knew. I still love her. I'll always love her. But I guess love just isn't enough anymore, at least for her._

_The pain of this betrayal is agonizing. The two people I would have trusted with my heart, with my life, have turned their backs on me. On our relationships. How can I begin to forgive them? I suppose if this is the end for us, then I'll have to accept it. I've only ever wanted Natasha to be happy and if it's in his arms, then there's nothing I can do._

_Sincerely,_

_Colby Lopez_

Colby stared at the computer screen for several long minutes, his cursor hovering over the attach file option. Sending this email would be a terrible and damaging thing to do, to both her and Jon but they had been the one to push him to this point. If only she'd been willing to talk to him, to hear him out, but no... she'd known going to Jon was going to hurt him and so, he felt completely justified in what he was about to do.

Before he could change his mind, he clicked the attachment button and included several photos that Natasha and Jon had taken together on their many coffee dates. You didn't even have to know Jon well to see he was in love with her, not when the look in his eyes was enough to broadcast it to the whole damned world. Once those were in place, he took a photo of his ticket stubs from his flight out to St. Augustine and attached them as well for proof of his trip. They didn't need to know that he'd been turned away at the gate and hadn't been allowed to even see her.

With those files in place, he hit the send button and then closed his laptop. Now he just had to sit back and enjoy the ride, because he knew it wouldn't take long before he got the alert that his email had been received. With the _'proof'_ he'd provided, he had no doubts that the updated article would be up within half an hour, if that. Sheffield worked surprisingly fast when he had a bit of juicy news to share. Once the article was updated, public opinion would turn on the two lovebirds and they'd tear them to shreds. The only thing that could possibly make this better would be to be able to see the looks on their faces when they realized what he'd done, and how their perfect little lives were about to go to shit.

It was a pleasant thought anyway and he couldn't resist the smile that tugged at his lips when he went to the fridge and grabbed himself a cold beer. With the bottle in one hand and his phone in the other, he went out onto the balcony and settled back into his chair. There was a storm on the horizon, both figuratively and literally, and by the time the first bolt of lightning cut through the night sky it was only moments before the first notification lit up his phone screen.

Colby opened his phone and hit the link Sheffield had provided to open the article. It wasn't terribly long, but it definitely painted him as the person who'd been wronged and left heartbroken. The man had taken a few quotes from the email and used them to paint a salacious picture of an ongoing affair between Jon and Natasha.

To further fan the flames, he took a photo of the night sky with his phone, catching the lightning perfectly and posted it to his twitter with the caption _'When the storm rips you to pieces, you get to decide how to put yourself back together again.'_

The response from his fans were damned near instantaneous and his phone began to light up with notifications. There was an outpouring of love and sympathy from people all over the world, denouncing both Jon and Natasha for what they had done to him. It was satisfying watching their fans vilify the two lovebirds, some were even calling for a boycott of Natasha's movies, critiquing everything from her acting abilities to her looks. Everyone wanted to know how she could cheat on someone who was so obviously devoted to her. The comments made him smile. It was only what they deserved because he refused to accept this was all on him. He could have won her back, if only Jon had backed the fuck off. But no, Mox had to be whispering in her ear, keeping her from giving in to his attempts. Well, if he couldn't have her, then Colby was going to do everything in his power to make sure Jon couldn't either.

Suddenly his phone rang and Colby arched a brow when he saw Jon's name pop up on the screen. He debated whether or not he was going to answer it but then laughed as he hit the decline button. The screen immediately lit up again, and again, and still again each time he refused the call. It was when the phone lit up with an unknown number though that he finally answered, having a good idea of just who it was, “I'd wondered when you'd finally reach out to me. I never guessed the lengths I'd have to go to in order to get your attention, 'Tasha... you're breaking my heart.”

“What did you do? Are you insane?!”

“I did what I had to, Tasha. I told you I wasn't going to let you go and I'm damned sure not going to let you run off with him. All you had to do was hear me out... we could have worked through this but you wouldn't even listen to me,” he said calmly and stared out at the night sky. He could hear Jon in the background yelling and laughed when he heard something being thrown, “Well, good to know he's like that at home too. At least this time someone else isn't footing the bill for his shit attitude.”

“Right. I should have known I'm not dealing with Colby right now. I'm dealing with the fucking sell out. You're not going to get away with this, Rollins. If you want a fucking war, I'm going to give it to you.”

Colby arched a brow when the Facetime call came through and he accepted it, only to be greeted by Tasha staring at him with fury in her eyes, love bites on her neck, and one of Jon's shirts hanging low off of one shoulder. She looked well fucked and he hated it. “We're both the same person, babe. We've been together long enough you should know that by now. This doesn't have to break down into a war, sweetheart. Come back to me and we can put this all behind us. Brush it off as a misunderstanding and everything can go back to normal.”

“You think I'd come back to you after everything you've done? You're insane,” Natasha spat out. The fact that Colby looked so pleased with himself made her wish he was in front of her so she could punch him herself. Just one hit was all she wanted and then she'd happily turn him over to Jon.

“All I've done is try to get you back. It's you who's being difficult,” he replied and laughed when more yelling came through the phone. “Was that a death threat I heard? Maybe I should be recording this.”

Suddenly the phone was pulled from Natasha's hands and Jon's face filled the screen, “Go ahead and record it, you sorry piece of shit. You think you're going to get away with this? Amazing how the cheating asshole manages to twist things around to suit his own fuckin' purpose yet again. Well I've got news for you, Lopez... I'm gonna fucking bury you so goddamn deep, they'll never fucking find your body!”

“And how are you going to do that, Mox? You've fucked off to AEW. Not like you're ever gonna get the chance at me again in the ring and do you really think they're going to let you into one of the arenas now? After everything you've said and done to get yourself blacklisted from WWE? Right,” Colby said with a shrug of his shoulders. After everything that had happened, Jon Good would be lucky to make it into the parking lot of an arena without security ejecting him. And if he made the mistake of showing up at his house? Well, he'd have no problems calling the cops and having the other man arrested.

“I'm borrowing your phone, Jon. This is going to be fucking dealt with tonight and once I'm finished, Colby Lopez is going to be left broken, penniless, and exposed for the piece of trash that he is.”

Colby arched a brow at that and forced out a laugh. “I'd love to know how you're going to do that, sweetheart.”

“No, you don't get to fucking call her that, asswipe. She ain't your sweetheart and at this point I'd be surprised if you had a heart in your fucking chest to begin with. _'Oh, I loved her and this broke my heart!'_ No, you have to have one in the first fucking place for that to have happened,” Jon snapped at him while waving Natasha off so she could make her phone calls. He couldn't hear what she was saying but he didn't need to. She would tell him later and this meant Colby had no fucking clue what was coming for him.

“I did love her, Jon. I still do... you took her from me and I can't allow that. I told her what needs to be done for this to all go away. Come on, Jon. You walked away once. You can do it again. Is fucking her really worth both of your careers?” Colby asked and watched Jon's features twist in rage.

“You love her, huh? I guess that's why you were sticking your dick in every skank you could find,” Jon hissed back at him. He got up to pace the length of the room and resisted the urge to throw something else. He'd already broken a table in his rage at what the other man had done. With the amount of rage coursing through him, if he truly let go they'd have to call a contractor in the morning to repair the damage.

“No answer to my question, huh?” Colby laughed, goading the other man.

“What? You're seriously asking me if she's worth it? You know damned well she is, asshole. But it isn't going to come down to our careers, because you're a lyin' sack of shit and everyone is going to know it,” Jon said and then looked up when Natasha came back into the room.

“Are you fucking kidding me right now!” Natasha shouted when she stormed back in to the room. She looked at Jon, shaking with rage. “The M.O.R.G.A.N. Project just called my agent. Our partnerships been severed because my actions don't align with the companies goals, Jon.”

“That's the company that works with special needs kids, right?” Jon asked, pulling his attention away from Seth for a moment, only to see her nod. He knew how important it was to her, because she and her sister grown in the system and she'd seen first hand how hard it was for disabled children to get the care they'd needed, especially considering Annika had Down's syndrome. So this development was a devastating blow. “Fuck, baby. We'll get it straightened out, you know we will.”

“Oh it's being handled. He's going to regret the day he ever heard my name,” Natasha said and handed Jon his phone back while plucking hers from between his fingers. Her expression was filled with barely suppressed rage as she stared at Colby. “You're finished, Lopez. Just realize you brought this shit on yourself.”

“And how do you figure...” Colby started to ask when the call disconnected and he was left staring at his silent phone. That hadn't quite gone as he'd expected but sooner or later, he knew she'd call back. She had to, because the evidence in his favor was damning and if she wanted him to retract his statement, her only option was to come crawling back to him.


	4. Chapter Four

_**Chapter Four** _

Jon watched Natasha move across the room wearing only one of his shirts and he sat down heavily on the edge of the bed. Leave it to Colby to massively fuck up what had been an amazing night for the both of them. When Natasha had left the room a second time, he almost got up and followed her but given the mood she was in, he wondered if she might need a bit of space before they sat down and talked about this. When she returned shortly with her laptop back thrown over a shoulder he reached out to lightly touch her leg and relaxed when she leaned into him for a moment. “What's going on in that pretty head of yours, sweetheart?”

“I've already put a call into the company that handles the security system at my houses. What Colby has obviously forgotten is there are cameras throughout both houses. Inside and out. I had to increase security after that obsessed fan broke in and took a trip through my underwear drawer,” she said and booted up her laptop. While she waited for it to load, she focused on Jon. She could see he was still furious but at least for the moment he was listening which hadn't been the case when they'd first looked at their phones to see the news article filled with Colby's lies. “I told him when he started staying at the house because of the legality issues. Reasonable expectation of privacy and all that but cracked a few jokes about being videoed when we were in the bedroom. Why he didn't realize that would include his... indiscretions is a mystery. He probably forgot about it since he was more concerned with how quickly he could get her underwear out of the way.”

“I remember that. I didn't know you had cameras in your bedroom now though,” he said, unsure how he felt about that. On one hand, it was for security purposes but on the other, if someone ever got a hold of the tapes...

“The idea didn't thrill me at first either but I got over it. No one _ever_ looks at the footage unless there's a break-in and it's all kept digital. The feed goes directly to the company's server. I didn't want to have to worry about someone breaking in just to steal the tapes. You know someone would stand to make a fortune leaking that shit,” she replied and plugged her phone into the laptop. Her fingers swiped through each of the photos until she found the ones she wanted and saved them to the hard drive.

“So they're going to pull the footage of....?” he asked while he looked over her shoulder to see what she was doing.

“I asked them to pull the footage of the night I caught the asshole cheating, complete with date and time stamps. I also asked them to pull the video of the day he showed up at my house and Preston handed him his box of shit. We're going to destroy this little fantasy he's built up of us spending the weekend together,” she replied and pulled up the photos that Colby leaked to TMZ to compare the photos she had. As she'd expected, the pictures he'd released had been cropped so that Colby wasn't in any of them. Because the fucker was too paranoid to accept that her and Jon could have coffee together without ending up in bed with one another and refused to let them go out without him.

“How long should it take for them to get it to you then?” he asked curiously. Ordinarily he'd expect something like that to take a few days, or maybe even a week which was time he didn't think they had. The sooner they contained this, the better.

Natasha just smiled at the question and began attaching the photos to a blank email, “In times like this, it's good to be me, because if I want something done, it's going to happen fast. They're working on it now and the agent I spoke to said they'll have it emailed to me within the hour. Of course, for the Denver incident, I asked them to end the file before they got completely naked because no one needs to see that. As long as there's enough incriminating evidence before it gets to that point, I'll be happy.”

“You ask them to pull any other footage? I know that's not the first time he's stayed at your place without you,” he asked and then leaned back to give her a bit of breathing room. His temper was beginning to settle to a low boil instead of threatening to erupt like it had been, but only because Natasha knew how to cut that mother fucker off at the knees. He was going to regret _ever_ meeting her.

“I told them I'd be following up with more dates, but that those two were important. I'll have to go back through my texts to find out when he stayed there. It's only because shit went so wrong the one time that the day it happened that the date sticks out in my mind,” she replied and then turned to look at him. She sighed softly and reached up to touch his cheek. “It's going to be okay, Jon. I'm not going to let him get away with this. I've already put a call in to my lawyer and left a message with the answering service. Some time tomorrow, he's going to be hit with a cease and desist notice, as well as being served with papers suing him for defamation of character. That shit he was quoted as saying? It'll either be slander or libel, depending on how he fed the quote to TMZ. I meant it when I said I was going to leave him a penniless and broken man. I'd suggest you put in a call to your lawyer as well.”

“Yeah, don't worry about that one. I'll do it in the morning, I just need to wait until you got all the evidence because I know my lawyer is going to want to see it too,” he replied and slid his arms around her. He had to wonder how this was all going to play out, because as far as the WWE went, they'd put Colby on notice that they wouldn't tolerate another scandal like the one he'd been involved in with Leighla. Would this be enough for them to finally cut him loose? He didn't know, but if it was, the man will have gotten exactly what he deserved.

Natasha allowed herself a moment to rest against Jon and take comfort in the fact that this wasn't going to make him regret wanting her. She wasn't going to wager on Colby's chances of coming out in one piece though, if the two men ever met face to face again. She looked over at her phone when it chimed again, not that it had really stopped since the news article with Seth's comments had hit. At the rate it was going, she was going to have to deactivate her social media pages just to get a moment's peace. But of course, it was the email from the security company that caught her attention and she quickly moved to open it. As promised, there were two video files attached and she clicked on the first one.

The pain she expected to feel at seeing Colby pushing his way through the front door was absent and she couldn't help but feel a surge of relief at the fact. There was no doubt that it was him, not when his hair was pulled into that ridiculous bun he liked to wear and the audio... well, there was no mistaking his voice. The woman, who barely looked to be a day over eighteen had asked if he was sure his girlfriend wasn't going to be home.

“ _ **It's just you and me tonight, baby... I told you, she's away in Atlanta and we've got this place all to ourselves. Now, I think you promised to show me something, didn't you, Nickie?”**_

“Oh, I can just guess at what the hell it is she wants to show him,” Jon muttered in disgust, ready to turn the video off. He'd seen more than enough. “So much for it being some poor distraught chick who he just wanted to comfort.”

“ _ **You want to see my Seth Rollin's tattoo? What's it gonna get me if I show you?” Nickie's hands went to the hem of her skirt and lifted it up just enough to see the bit of ink that disappeared beneath the lace of her panties.**_

“ _ **Let me see it and I'll strip that scrap of lace off with my teeth and tongue that tight pussy of yours. I might even take you upstairs.... spread you out on the bed and make a meal out of you. That good enough for you or are you going to take more convincing?”**_

“Remind me to burn that bed the next time I'm in Denver,” Natasha muttered in disgust and looked away when Colby fumbled at the button of his pants. The view was obscured slightly when he'd grabbed the tall blond but it was obvious what was about to happen when he picked her up and slammed her against the wall. The video ended with him rucking her skirt up and her legs wrapped around his waist but before it had become obvious he'd penetrated her. “Glad I missed round one then. If I'd walked in on that...”

“You would have taken that hideous glass thing by the door and beaten both of their heads in, most likely,” Jon said, his voice tightening again with fury. The casual disregard the asshole had for his relationship with Natasha had his blood boiling. Thankfully, the video cut out but it was only for a brief moment and then it was back again, focusing on the closed front door. “What's going on now?”

“I came home,” Natasha replied softly and sure enough, moments later she was seen walking through the door. She remembered the relief she'd felt in kicking those horrid shoes off her feet and leaving them by her suitcases. A bitter laugh bubbled in her chest at the hopeful, excited expression that her past self wore. If only she'd known how her life had been about to fall to pieces in just a few short moments. The view of the camera shifted to follow her through the house, up the stairs and into the bedroom. Fortunately, the agent who'd pulled the video had the presence of mind to blur out the entirety of the pornographic images of Seth and his blonde side piece but the look of horror and devastation on her own face was plain for everyone to see.

Quickly Jon reached over and hit the stop button on the video because he'd seen more than enough. He'd seen the aftermath of the incident and there were times he still heard her broken voice in his head, asking why Colby would do this, and her need to know what she'd done to deserve being betrayed by him. He didn't need to see any more. “You have the videos now, sweetheart. What are you going to do with them?”

“Colby wants to paint us as going behind his back, like we'd been having some illicit affair and he's the victim in all of this. I'm just going to give him a taste of his own medicine,” she murmured softly and attached the two videos to the blank email along with the photos. Her next step was to attach a bill she'd gotten from the hotel in Boulder, making sure to redact any important information that couldn't be shared with the general public. Once that was done, she began typing her own letter to TMZ.

_To whom it may concern,_

_It has come to my attention that my name, and that of my long time friend Jonathan Good has been tarnished and I would like to take the opportunity to set the record straight._

_As many of your readers know, Colby Lopez (otherwise known as WWE superstar Seth Rollins) had been dating for the past year. Although it had not been formally announced, we have been separated for nearly four months now. Since Mr. Lopez has sought to damage my character, as well as that of my long time friend, Jon, it's time the world learned on the reason why._

_On February 16_ _th_ _, 2019, Colby had informed me that he would be in Denver due to his job and I had invited him to stay at my home. I was in Atlanta at the time, on set for a film. Originally, I was not going to be able to return home but due to unforeseeable circumstances, production was suspended for the next two weeks. I decided to return home and surprise Colby but little did I know, it was I who was in for a surprise._

_I arrived home and found Colby in my bedroom, in bed, with another woman. I've provided video footage of that night, taken by my security cameras. The more salacious bits have been omitted, because unlike others, I'm not out to ruin lives, merely set the record straight. Rather than confronting them, I left and attempted to check in at a nearby hotel but since it was the night of a rather large WWE event, there were no vacancies. Later that night, Colby began calling my phone. I did not wish to speak to him, but he was persistent enough that I eventually answered and confronted him about what I saw. This is when Jon found me, because although I didn't know it at the time, that was where the WWE had booked rooms for the talent. He'd overheard the conversation and realized I was in no condition to be driving._

_I know you and your readers are wondering about the relationship between Jon and I at the time and it was nothing but friendship. We hadn't so much as kissed or held hands. But Jon still took pity on me and brought me up to his room. He gave me a change of clothes with a promise to drive me to the hotel I'd gotten a reservation at in the next town over. Before we could leave, however, Colby had made his appearance, demanding entrance to Jon's room. As it turned out, he'd been given my location by one of his friends who never could keep his nose out of other people's business._

_A verbal argument ensued, where Colby insisted he'd had a moment of weakness. That he was just trying to comfort this poor woman and things had gotten out of hand. As you can see by the video, nothing could be further from the truth but at any rate, I did not want to hear it. Eventually Colby left empty handed. I would not give him the reconciliation that he wanted. Our relationship was over, but given that we'd never made a public spectacle out of it, I saw no need to announce our parting of ways. I see that was a mistake that Mr. Lopez has used to his advantage and my detriment. It's not a mistake he will capitalize on again._

_Since that time, Mr. Lopez has made repeated attempts to contact me but I have refused every single one. It had gotten to the point where I'd wondered if I would have to file stalking and harassment charges, just to get a restraining order against him. The trip to St. Augustine he made reference to, we never even met face to face. He was stopped at the gate and the only contact he made was with one of my employees who'd returned to him a box of his belongings that had been left at my house. That was two days ago._

_I consider the relationship I had with Colby Lopez finished and it has been from the moment he brought another woman into my home._

_Regarding the photos he provided concerning my 'suspected infidelity'. I'm providing copies of the photos in their entirety. You are welcome to check the time stamps and compare them to the photos Mr. Lopez sent. You'll find they are exactly the same. As you can see, Colby was there, present for each of these supposed dates that we had. There were no clandestine meetings between us. Kudos to him for attempting to get one over your readers though. I suppose he needed to showcase his skills at photo editing, so bravo to him for knowing how to crop an image._

_For the rest, Jon and I would appreciate it if we were given privacy. We've come together, bonded over the heartbreak that was caused by someone we trusted without reservation. Our private lives are just that, private and that should be respected._

_Sincerely,_

_Natasha Annessley_

She turned the laptop then so Jon could read the letter in its entirety. She wasn't going to send something that involved him without his approval. Unlike Colby, she needed to know that she wasn't going to cause someone she cared for additional problems.

“Should you mention that you were in my hotel room?” Jon asked after a moment. Overall, he was fine with it but he wasn't sure the public needed that ammunition.

“That's why I wanted to run it by you first. I can take it out, but what are the chances that Colby will come back with the bombshell he found me in your room, even if it was innocent?” she asked and sighed. That was the only part she was on the fence about. If he wanted it removed, she'd do so without complaint.

“If you're following up with the lawyer, chances are he'll let it die. He'll know this is a fight he can't win. He might bitch about it to other people, but he won't go to the press with it,” Jon said after a moment and then nodded when she removed the mention of him helping her at the hotel and the subsequent confrontation. They both gave it another read through and once it was to both of their liking, Natasha sent it.

There was no doubt that TMZ would be all over it, although how much of the email would be published was always up for debate. Sometimes they'd print it in its entirety and others, they'd just pull quotes. The one thing Jon was sure of though was that the video would be posted in all of its damning detail.

“You know it won't be long before someone puts together we really are together though, right?” Natasha asked him and set the laptop aside for the moment. She'd hear if another email came in that she needed to attend to.

“I don't care who knows we're together, doll. I never did, to be honest. It's been a long time coming and I'm not really worried about who sees us together. So that shit you had to do in the beginning with dickhead? Don't feel like you've gotta do that with me,” he said and slipped an arm around her. Yeah, he preferred his private life to stay that way but he wasn't going to hide her or treat her like a dirty little secret either. Besides, after the bombshell that Colby had dropped on them, the fans and the paparazzi would be on the hunt, looking for any hint of them hiding a relationship. To do so would bring back the doubts as to whether or not Colby was telling the truth.

“At first it was like armor, you know... when me and you would go out, just so we could enjoy our time out and not get swarmed. You know how I kept it up with Colby for a few months? After he knew who I was though and asked me out... he wanted me to stop with the charade but...” she said and trailed off with a shake of her head.

“But?” he prompted when she seemed to get lost in her head for a moment.

“Looking back, I probably should have taken it as a warning sign but our first real fight was over me hiding my identity. You know how he's always got to be in the spotlight. That day he asked me what the point was of going out with me if he couldn't show the world who he was dating,” she said with a shrug of her shoulders. “At the time, it felt like he was only with me for bragging rights. I got over it eventually and he apologized. He said it was a heat of the moment thing but looking back I have to wonder if that's all it really was... a chance to take me away from you and to give his own ego a boost.”

Jon just shook his head and sighed at that. It should have surprised him but it really didn't. The one time Colby had thought to complain to him about her reluctance to be recognized, he'd shut the conversation down fast because he knew she didn't like being hounded by fans and the press. He'd thought the man had understood but by the sounds of it, he really hadn't. Now he was regretting the way he'd distanced himself from their relationship because it was just one more thing he might have picked up on. “You know I'll follow your lead on this one but no matter what we do, their gonna be all over this so...”

“If I try to hide, they're just going to speculate and make up wild theories about how long this has been going on,” she replied and sighed. She loved acting and she loved her fans, but this was one reality of her life that she well and truly hated. People felt like she belonged to them and her life? Well it wasn't her own anymore. She was going to be judged for every single thing that she did but retiring wasn't really in the cards. At least not yet. And then, of course, there was her severed partnership with the M.O.R.G.A.N. Project. She'd put so much time and her heart into supporting their cause, because families with special needs children needed all the help they could get to stay whole, and now all of that was gone. What had Colby left her with? A tarnished reputation that people would always speculate about no matter what evidence she provided.

“Like they're doing now. Could get worse though,” he said and when he felt her sigh, he pushed himself further back onto the bed and pulled her into his arms. The last thing he wanted was for her to regret this, to change her mind about wanting to be with him.

Natasha looked up at him then and took note of the worry on his face. Immediately she began to move until she was settled on top of him again although this time it had nothing to do with their earlier activities. She smoothed her hand against the side of his face, ignoring the prickle of his beard against her skin. “Hey, what's wrong?”

For a moment he said nothing, because it meant opening up about his fears but he owed it to her to be honest. Finally he sighed and looked up at her, “I've had to fight for everything good in my life. Nothings ever just been handed to me and there's always someone trying to take things away. That asshole went and proved he's just like all the others. I just... don't want you to regret this because of what he's done.”

“There's a lot of things I regret, Jon and dating Colby? Is right at the top of the list. The only regret I have concerning you, is that we didn't realize how one another felt months ago,” she replied and then smiled when she felt some of the tension draining out of him.

“I know you loved him,” he said quietly. As much as he hated it, he'd seen first hand the devastation Colby had done to her. “If things hadn't blown up the way they had...”

“Did I though?” she said and shook her head at the look of surprise he gave her, “I've come to realize that I was in love with a lie, Jon. There's a lot of ugliness in Colby that I was too blind to see. Sooner or later it would have surfaced. I think... that was one of the things that was hardest for me to come to terms with. I wasted a year of my life on something that wasn't real. I can't even look at a photo of him anymore and see the man I was in love with. There's no reason to look back anymore. That man never truly existed and those feelings are never coming back. You though... you're real. You've been there from the beginning and if I'd only been brave enough to tell you how I felt... before all this happened.”

“Makes two of us, sweetheart,” he replied and then dragged her down until she was laying on top of him, not that she put up any sort of protest. Now that he knew he had her and she wasn't going to regret this, _regret him_ , he could accept that he was allowed to be happy without the constant fear that it would all fall to pieces.


	5. Chapter Five

_**Chapter Five** _

Colby woke up the next afternoon with a headache that was only made worse by the pounding on his front door. Blearily he looked at the time and realized it was close to three in the afternoon. He'd slept the day away but that was easily explained by the multitude of empty beer bottles that lined the table top. He might have gone a little overboard in celebrating his victory over Mox the night before. The pounding on the door picked up again and he pushed himself upright, “I'm coming, dammit! Where's the fucking fire?”

He snatched up a few of the bottles and dumped them in the trash as he stalked across the room. Whoever it was beating his door down was going to get an ass beating if they didn't knock it the fuck off. He ripped the door open, only to see a man he didn't recognize standing there, “Whoever you are and whatever it is you're selling, I'm not interested. Fuck off.”

The man just stared at Colby, unperturbed by the rude greeting, “Colby Lopez?”

“Yeah? I already told you I'm not interested,” he replied and started to close the door but stopped when a large envelope was pressed into his hand, “What the hell is this?”

The man just smiled and let go of the papers he'd shoved into Mr. Lopez's hands, “You've been served. Have a good day!”

“What the fuck?” Colby asked but the man had already walked away, whistling a jaunty tune no less. He shook his head and slammed the door to go in and ready what he'd been given. No doubt it was from either Jon or Natasha, but really, what more could they do? He'd already told his side of the story and he had no need to add to it. All he wanted to do was sit back and enjoy the shit show that was sure to follow. So whatever this piece of paper said? Meant nothing.

He dropped down into his chair and massaged his temples for a moment before he opened the envelope. He scanned the order quickly, noting that it had been signed by a judge before he tossed them down to the table. Standard bullshit. He wasn't allowed to discuss their break up to the press. He was to stop making accusations, blah blah blah. Nothing he hadn't expected when he realized what they were. Again though, it didn't matter. The damage had already been done. Natasha's career, the thing she'd been so proud of would be forever tarnished. It would take a while for the public to turn their opinions and by then, who knew what roles the industry would be willing to offer her.

As for Jon, well, sex scandals in wrestling weren't uncommon but the people he worked with? Were sure to take sides. It might not be damaging to his career but it'd damned sure make things uncomfortable for the man. Combined with Natasha's career woes, it was sure to split them apart.

The sound of his phone vibrating from across the room and he got up to check it out. Most likely it was more sympathy from his fans, denouncing his former best friend and his ex-girlfriend. When he picked up his phone, he laughed at the sheer number of notifications. They numbered in the thousands. “Let's see you two get out of this one.”

The high he was riding on didn't last long however, because one tweet in particular caught his eye that he'd been tagged in. The original tweet had been dated February 19th of that year and stated _'Seth Rollins, not just a BeastSlayer but a beast between the sheets too. #Cantfeelmylegs'_ That in itself wasn't problematic, because she hadn't tagged him in it. What was problematic was that people were now retweeting it, tagging him in it, and including a link to a video. A chill went down his spine then, because he recognized the foyer of Natasha's house in the thumbnail and his hand shook when he pressed play. How could he have forgotten she'd wired the entire house with security cameras save for the bathrooms?

The horror only grew when he saw that the video was time stamped, clearly showing the date and then he heard himself speaking in the video.

“ _ **It's just you and me tonight, baby... I told you, she's away in Atlanta and we've got this place all to ourselves. Now, I think you promised to show me something, didn't you, Nickie?”**_

_**'Fuck.'** _ That was the predominant thought that ran through his mind on an endless loop while he watched the video. The evidence was damning. There was no doubt that wasn't Natasha at all, the short blonde hair was a dead give away to that. Not to mention, the woman was at least six inches taller than his ex-girlfriend so he couldn't even pass it off as them role playing. It only got worse, the longer the video played as he watched himself pin the woman to the wall to fuck her before the video cut out. He'd thought his torment was over but he couldn't have been more wrong because the video picked right up where Natasha had come home.  _**'No, no, no! This can't fucking be happening!'** _

As the video played, he hoped that it would end  _ before _ she reached the bedroom but no, Natasha had made sure that everyone saw how her discovery had played out that night. He'd been so wrapped up in the woman he'd brought to her house, he hadn't even realized she'd stood in the doorway, watching him with a shattered look on her face until she'd just turned and left, completely destroyed by what he had done. The video ended with her walking to the car, out in the rain and her heartbroken sobs of pain audible over the downpour. 

The high he had been riding before? Was completely gone now and not even the slightest trace of it remained. Nickie hadn't responded yet, despite the amount of hate she was currently receiving so she was either enjoying her 15 minutes of fame or she hadn't seen it yet.

The backlash he was receiving though... oh, he'd reached new lows. He'd thought it had been bad after the scandal with Leighla, but she'd been a relative nobody whereas Natasha... well, she'd been one of Hollywood's golden girls, beloved by all of her fans and they were  _ not _ happy at seeing how their relationship had really ended.

He began reading some of the tweets and knew this was just the beginning.

_'Just goes to show you, Seth will fuck anything with a hole. No wonder she's with Mox now.'_

_'Nickie was just treated for chlamydia. Wouldn't surprise me if the hoe passed it on. Get tested, Natasha!'_

_'@wweRollins I see you've set aside this special time to humiliate yourself in public.'_

And that wasn't even beginning to cover the dms he'd received. They ranged from expressing disappointment in him to threats of physical violence for what he'd done. Unable to deal with the bullshit, he deactivated his twitter account. Most likely his bosses would insist on it anyway, assuming they didn't outright fire his ass over this latest scandal. He put his phone down for a moment and put his head in his hands. His bosses. That was another bomb set to explode. He hadn't even looked at his text messages or call logs yet but he was sure there were more unpleasant surprises waiting for him there. “What the fuck am I going to do now?”

There wasn't an answer for that, not that he was expecting one. His phone vibrated again and he looked over to see it was Stephanie calling. He cringed and just let the phone continue to ring. It probably wasn't the wisest of moves, but he really didn't need to hear that harpy screaming in his ear, at least not until his headache went away. The ringing finally stopped when it kicked over to voicemail and he sighed when the alert popped up that one had been left. He opened that notification, although he wasn't going to play it and cursed under his breath when he saw no less than ten voicemails from her and six from Hunter. The only small blessing he could see, is that Vince himself hadn't attempted to contact him. Yet anyway.

Cursing beneath his breath, Colby tossed the phone back to the table and stood up to go take a shower. Maybe something would come to him while he worked on his headache. He doubted it though.

In the years that Paul Levesque had worked for the WWE, he'd seen many, many things including the rise and fall of Superstars. When he'd first met Colby Lopez, he'd known the man was destined for greatness. It'd been why he'd taken him under his wing, after all. He'd put him on the path to success and done everything he could to ensure he'd be the new face of the company. When the scandal between him and Leighla had broken, he had, of course, been disappointed but he'd excused it because Colby was young. He was impulsive and while he obviously knew better, it was too easy to allow fame to go to your head. It put you in the mindset that you were untouchable, at least until you found out you weren't and he'd hoped that Colby had learned his lesson.

When casually brought up he was dating Natasha Annessley, he'd wondered if the man was full of shit. Colby Lopez, who'd had his dick plastered all over Twitter, dating a reclusive movie star who was known for quiet demeanor and her love of escaping to the forests of Washington and Alaska during her downtime from filming? The same woman whose passion when not in front of the camera, turned out to be photography and some of her work had been featured on the covers of magazines? It just hadn't made sense. But sure enough, she'd turned up at the next pay per view and he'd been forced to accept that Colby had been telling the truth.

But the thing was, you could tell a lot just by watching people and that was something that Paul had become a pro at. The couple had been completely mismatched and he'd been mystified at how they'd even come together in the first place. Natasha had been smitten, there was no doubt about that and he could even understand why. When Colby wanted to be, he was sweet and charming, everything a woman could ask for, not to mention, he knew how to have fun and when you were with him, there was never a dull moment. He was perfect at bringing people out of their shells.

However, the spark of adoration in her eyes was not matched by Colby's and he'd pulled the man aside to talk to him once. He'd  _ known  _ that unless something changed, they weren't destined for one another and eventually someone, most likely Natasha, was going to end up hurt. Unfortunately, Colby had just brushed his concerns off and had politely told him to mind his own business. 

The other thing that Paul had noticed, was that Jon was head over heels in love with the woman. Oh, Mox had thought he'd hidden it well but it was plain for anyone to see. When she was in the room, his eyes followed her wherever she went. If she needed something, he'd most likely anticipated what it was before she even thought to get up to get it. The attraction wasn't unrequited either, she just did a better job of hiding it and seemed to have shoved herself into the friend zone. It would have been amusing to watch, if it hadn't been a recipe for disaster.

And what a disaster it had turned into. He'd seen the first article from TMZ where they'd speculated on Jon and Natasha's relationship but had dismissed it as rubbish. Neither of those two were the cheating type and if there was something going on now, it'd been because Colby's relationship had ended. Little went on in the company without his knowledge, so the night Natasha had shown up at the hotel? He'd already been made aware, even if Colby had been tight lipped about the separation.

Similarly, when he'd read Colby's accusations, he'd immediately reached out to TMZ to find out for certain where they'd gotten the information in the hopes that Colby hadn't been so fucking stupid. To say that he and Stephanie had been livid to find the man had been the one to dish the dirt was an understatement. They'd both put pressure on the company to retract the article but they'd been steadfast in their refusal because their source was one of the parties involved. From there, they'd begun contacting their lawyers to put them on alert, because both he and his wife knew there was no way that Natasha Annessley was going to take this lying down. They just hadn't known how bad the fall out was going to be.

Two hours later, the true extent of the damage was revealed when the new TMZ article was posted, complete with the letter she'd written and the video that showed Colby's dirty deeds. From there it'd just gotten worse when some intrepid fan had unearthed Nickie Deselia's tweet where she'd bragged about banging Seth Rollins and made the connection to her being the woman in the video. So once again, their golden boy was a known cheater, but this time, he'd gotten into bed with a ring rat with a rumored venereal disease. That was without touching the lies he'd spewed in his email to TMZ in the first place. If Paul hadn't had gray hair before, he would have by the time this was finished. He supposed it was a good thing he'd taken to shaving his head.

The key card he'd gotten from the receptionist weighed heavily in his hand. He really wasn't looking forward to this upcoming confrontation but it wasn't like Colby had given him any choice in the matter. He'd been ducking every single call and text that Stephanie had sent him and if Paul hadn't stepped in, she would have shown up to the man's hotel room and kicked the door in if she'd had to.

Paul eventually reached the room that Colby had checked into and unlocked the door with a sigh. When he entered, he could hear the shower running in the background but that was fine. He was content to wait because the last thing he wanted to see was the man streaking through the room in a panic. He frowned when he took in the mess that had been left on the table though. There had to be at least six empty beer bottles and there were more in the trash can. He hoped the man wasn't becoming an alcoholic because that would be cherry on top of the shit sundae that Colby had made for them.

“What am I going to do with you, kid?” Paul muttered under his breath and dropped into the chair that Colby had vacated not long ago. The phone that had been discarded onto the table had vibrated so often that it had fallen to the floor. He picked it up and put it back onto the table, but otherwise ignored it to wait for its owner to get out of the damned shower. Fortunately, the man made his appearance not ten minutes later and left Paul wishing he'd taken a photo just to savor the look of horror on his face when he realized who was in the room with him. Paul just stared at him for a moment and then gestured towards the empty bottles, “So... was this before or after your newly leaked sex tape?”

Colby just stood there, floundering for an answer and then finally sighed. He really didn't need this but there was no escape, it seemed. Not when one of his bosses sat in the chair across from him, anyway. His only consolation was that it _wasn't_ Stephanie. “I was going to call you.”

“Yeah, sure you were. That's why Stephanie is about to go nuclear and if it wasn't for Miss Annessley's lawyer contacting us, she'd be here right now,” Paul said and leaned back in the chair to stare at his protege. “Do you have any idea how much shit you're in right now, kid?”

“Is that why I got these?” Colby asked and picked up the papers he'd been served earlier that afternoon to avoid answering the question.

Paul took them from him and briefly scanned the documents before he set them aside, “Partially. They had to know where to serve them and right now, kid, the WWE is going to cooperate with her lawyers to the fullest extent and if that means throwing you under the bus... well, we might have to change your character from the Beast Slayer to Iowa's favorite speed bump. Your new costume change might include a few tire tracks and maybe give you a mask with a pair of x's over your eyes. Stephanie said you'd look great as an armadillo. Do they have armadillo in Iowa, Colby?”

“So what are her lawyers asking then? An apology. Fine, I'll write one out,” Colby said and ignored the armadillo comment. He was one of their best wrestlers so he knew they wouldn't turn him into some sort of joke. They'd fire him first.

“An apology? Oh, if that's all she asks for you're going to be lucky,” he replied and watched the other man wince. Good. He knew he was on thin ice. “There's going to be an investigation, of course. Because sources have to be obtained. TMZ might not throw you under the bus and give them your email, but I doubt it. Not when you wrote it intending for it to be published. You have no expectation of privacy there. If they do, then you can be sure they're going to get a court order to investigate your emails and if you were stupid enough to use your WWE account, neither Stephanie nor I will be willing to protect you there. We will hand over the proof they ask for. You're looking at a defamation lawsuit, you idiot. What you just did? Is libel and I wouldn't be surprised if Jon comes after your dumb ass too.”

That possibility hadn't even occurred to Colby and he sat down hard, “What about me? She posted that fucking video!”

“The difference is, Colby, she was providing proof that you were lying, trying to mitigate the damned damage you were doing to her and Jon,” Paul snapped at him. They'd already had a long talk with their own lawyers about this. “Did you know about the cameras in her house? And don't fucking lie to me, Lopez. If you tell me no and I find out otherwise, you're going to be in even deeper shit than you are already!”

The temptation was there to lie to him anyway but he couldn't remember if Natasha had told him over the phone or by text that she was going to have them installed. What he did remember was the discussion about some of the security workers and how they'd had trouble with some of the wiring and had to come back a second day. The day he'd been due to arrive and it had annoyed the shit out of him because it cut into his time with her. With his luck, they'd have video footage of him there with the workers present so he had no choice but to be truthful, “Yeah, I knew. It'd just slipped my mind.”

“So you had no expectation of privacy in that house. Your guest might have, if you actually lived there but you didn't which means Nickie Deselia had no business being in that house either. For all intents and purposes she was trespassing, which means she had no right to privacy either. Since Natasha was nice enough to blur out the pornographic parts so your dick wasn't plastered all over the internet, again, you have no legal recourse for that either,” Paul said and watched the man's anger fade and his expression become resigned once more. Miss Annessley's lawyers had been quite clear on that front.

“Give it to me straight then, Paul. How fucked am I?” he asked tiredly. He didn't know how Natasha could get away with posting a sex tape of him and not face any legal repercussions but it seemed she was going to do just that.

“It depends on what the courts say. It looks pretty cut and dry to me. You did it. There's proof you did it and you lied through your fucking teeth. What you did could have irreparably harmed both of their careers and even with the tape out there proving you couldn't keep your dick in your pants, there's always going to be people that wonder now,” Paul said and pursed his lips. This was going to haunt Jon and Natasha for the rest of their time together because there would always be people who believed she'd stepped out on Colby first and what he'd done was in retaliation. “You want the truth? You're potentially looking at millions here, kid. She could easily bankrupt you, especially if people start accusing her of cheating on you first which, I've got news for you... some people already have. The M.O.R.G.A.N. Project has distanced itself from her which isn't good, nevermind the fact that she's never made a dime from them and has donated considerable time and money to their cause. So far though, no one else of importance has taken up the charge and you can count your blessings for that one. It's mostly just your fans at this point, but if enough of them show up, the judge can look at that and make an assumption about the people she works with doing the same.”

Colby started to respond but Paul's phone chimed and they both fell silent as the man moved to look at it.

_'I just got a call from Miss Annessley's lawyers. Ridley Scott just canceled her pending contract for his new film that was set to begin in October.'_

“Fuck,” Paul said when he read the text from Stephanie and scrubbed a hand over his face. He tossed the phone to Colby and watched him read the text. She now had proof of damages and that had just sealed his fate. He accepted the phone back from the man and watched him carefully. If he were being honest, he was tempted to just let the man go. Write him off of television and let the man go quietly into the night but that would leave Colby with nothing. No job, no money, no future and he wasn't sure he could do that to him. “You're lucky I like you, kid. You've made some bad choices and you know we'd have no trouble kicking you to the curb right now.”

“Are you?” he asked even though he dreaded the answer. His life was crumbling around him and if they did fire him he'd have nothing left except his wrestling school and how many people would want to learn from someone who'd been fired from the WWE and sent into exile?

“No. We're not but I'll be honest, by the time this is over you're probably going to wish for it,” Paul said after a moment. He'd already discussed this with Stephanie so he had no problems laying out the plan. “You're losing the title at Extreme Rules to Lesnar and yeah, you'll get your rematch where you'll get it back but it won't be for long.”

Colby just nodded. He'd known there was no way they were going to allow him to keep the title after seeing that video. “Who will I be losing it to then?”

“Bray. He'll be debuting his new character The Fiend soon. It'll be after that in October that you lose it for good and in November you'll be turning heel again with your own character change,” he replied. They hadn't worked out the details completely yet since they had to meet with creative but the tentative idea of the Monday Night Messiah that had been put forward was the likely choice. Seth was going to hate it with every fiber of his being.

“Great. Because that worked so well last time,” Colby muttered under his breath but he knew it was better than the alternative of being released. “Does it have to be Wyatt though? Come on, man. I'd rather lose it to you.”

“I've got other shit to deal with, Colby, and eventually I do plan to retire from the ring. Hell, if Jon were still in the company you'd be losing it to him but he's not and if he ever does get his hands on you, he'll probably put you in the hospital. No, Vince is behind Bray's character change and he wants a title on him. Congratulations, you just gave Windham the push he's been asking for,” Paul said and watched Colby sag in his chair. Unfortunately, he had more bad news to deliver to him, “You're also going to be fined but in light of the text Stephanie just sent me, I'm going to have to speak to her about it. It was going to be a $50,000 hit to your pocket book but... well, I guess we'll have to wait and see. I don't want to see you completely penniless but if Natasha doesn't gut your wallet, Jon probably will.”

“I'll be lucky if I don't lose the school over this,” he replied and put his head in his hands. For being The Architect, he sure hadn't thought this one through. It would have been fine, if only he'd remembered the fucking security cameras.

Paul had already considered that and he didn't want to see Black and Brave close down, which it might well come to. He'd have to wait until the legal proceedings were finished and then, if it came down to it he might have to invest in the company just to help keep it afloat. He wasn't about to tell Colby that though. “You might and if you do, that'll be a damned shame because you're helping a lot of people achieve their dreams. But... we'll see what happens if it comes to it.”

“I guess so,” Colby replied and looked down at his phone while wondering where it all went wrong. His attempt at revenge had spectacularly backfired and now he was going to be left with next to nothing. “What do I do now?”

“You keep your nose clean, kid. You don't contact Natasha for any reason, or Jon for that matter because you don't want harassment added to this,” Paul said and then sighed awkwardly. Perhaps now wasn't the best time to drop another bombshell on the man, but it needed to be done. “This thing between you and Becky. You wanna tell me about it?”

“Becky?” Seth asked him, his brow furrowed in surprise. “We've hung out a couple of times but it's nothing serious. Why?”

“You sure about that? Because she claims you slept with her,” he said and watched the other man just sigh. This latest development was going to go over like a lead balloon, he just knew it.

“Yeah, we've slept together a couple of times but it's just blowing off steam. I'm not looking for another relationship and even if I was, it wouldn't be with her. I'd been trying to get Natasha back but that ain't fucking happening now, is it?” he asked bitterly and then sat up straighter after a moment, “Why? Why is she coming to you about us fucking around? If it's about that ring rat I banged supposedly having a disease, you know we get tested every month.”

“Well that was a concern but not the reason she came to my office a few weeks ago. I'd been hoping she'd get off her ass and tell you herself, but we're out of time. Becky's pregnant, kid, and she's claiming you're daddy,” Paul replied and watched the blood drain from Colby's face. He hadn't wanted to break the news like this but it was time for him to man the fuck up and deal with his responsibilities.

“No, no fucking way. She has to be fucking joking cause she said she was on the pill,” Colby whispered in horror. They'd slept together three times. How the fuck could she be pregnant? He couldn't deal with this shit!

“She's not joking. The test was confirmed by her doctors, not just by pissing on a stick. She said it's yours. If it's not, that's between the two of you to work out but you needed to know and since she wasn't ready to tell you...” he trailed off and then sighed. There was absolutely nothing he could do to get the kid out of this particular problem aside from providing a DNA test but that was months away from being possible.

When Colby didn't respond, Paul stood up and went over to his side. He clapped him on the shoulder once and squeezed it, making the other man look up at him. “You'll get through this, Colby. It's just gonna take some time.”

With that, Paul took his leave and left Colby alone to consider everything his actions had cost him.


	6. Chapter Six

_**Author's Note:** _

_**This is it, the final chapter, or rather, the epilogue if you will. There's a bit of a time skip but Jon and Natasha needed to move on.** _

_**I'm still in the process of working on several other fics and ideally, I want to get them finished before anything gets posted. However, there's one fic in particular that I'm having a devil of a time holding back. If a supernatural AU featuring a Dean/Seth/Mox/Oc pairing is of interest to you, let me know. Perhaps I'll post the first chapter as a bit of a preview in the hopes of getting the muse to power through writing the rest of the story.** _

_**Chapter Six** _

“Are you ready for this?” Jon asked and walked up behind Natasha. His hands ghosted along her bare shoulders for a moment before traveling down her exposed back to find the zipper on her dress and slowly pulled it up. The dark green velvet clung to her skin and when she turned to face him, she took his breath away. He didn't know how he'd managed to get her to fall in love with him but he thanked God for blessing him every morning when he woke up with her in his arms.

“I wouldn't have agreed to go if I wasn't,” she said and then smiled when he leaned in to kiss her but it was the barest brush of his lips against hers. “You call that a kiss, Mr. Good?”

“I don't want to smudge your lipstick, Mrs. Good,” he replied but smiled when she stretched up on her toes for a second kiss which he granted. It'd been two years since the disastrous break up between her and Seth. Two years since she and Jon had admitted their feelings for one another, and six months since they'd married in a private ceremony on a beach in Maui.

“That's why they make smudge proof lipstick, Jon,” she said and then laughed when he pulled her in for a deeper kiss that left her breathless. Her hands slid against his button down shirt but when she felt his hands traveling South of her waist, she took a teasing step back. “None of that, sir. Not unless you want to be the one to explain to Brie and Daniel why we missed the party. It's not every day that one of your friends gets inducted into the Hall of Fame.”

“I'm sure they'd understand,” he replied and made like he was going to chase her around the room.

“I'm sure they wouldn't,” Natasha replied and ducked around the table with a finger pointed at him in warning. They couldn't afford to be any later than they already were, but then it was impossible to say no to Jon when he truly wanted something. And he'd definitely had ideas when he'd seen her standing there in nothing but a lace thong, not that she'd been complaining.

“Fine but when we get home I'm going to enjoy peeling you out of that dress,” he said and gave her a considering look. Frankly she'd be damned lucky if they made it to the event without him pushing that pretty dress up around her hips and making a meal out of her. He didn't think she'd mind, as long as she didn't walk into the hotel looking like she'd been bent over the seat of the car and fucked until she screamed.

“Has anyone ever told you you're insatiable?” she asked and sat down so that she could slip her heels on.

Jon just tilted his head and watched her for a moment, “Are you complaining?”

“Fuck no,” she replied and laughed. She stood up again, but this time Jon was by her side to make sure she didn't fall. It was adorable how much he doted on her now, but she couldn't resist teasing him just a little. “I'm not breakable, you know... next thing you know you're going to want to carry me all over the place.”

“Are you saying that's an option?” he asked and looked at her like he was seriously considering the possibility, only to snicker when she lightly smacked him in the arm with her clutch.

“I'm pregnant, not ill,” Natasha said and then when Jon stepped in behind her, she leaned back into him. His hands smoothed down the front of her dress to rest on her abdomen, cradling the bump that was barely noticeable. He'd been doing that for the past month, ever since she'd realized the tiredness she was experiencing wasn't just fatigue but something more and had taken a pregnancy test.

“Even more reason for me to take care of you,” he stated while he held her. He sighed when his phone chimed with a reminder that their driver was waiting out front, as he'd been doing for the past thirty minutes. “You sure we can't skip this?”

“I'm sure. Don't pout, it's a chance to see some of our friends,” she replied and stepped away from him, albeit reluctantly. She made her way to the door, knowing that he'd follow her.

“Yeah, but _he's_ probably going to be there too,” Jon said unhappily. Colby Lopez. The biggest reason against going to this shindig, even if his friends had all but ordered him to show up. He couldn't go to the Hall of Fame itself, not with the tensions that currently existed between him and the WWE but the after party? Well... that was another story now wasn't it?

“Who cares if he is?” she replied and turned her head to look at him while they walked. She knew his hesitance wasn't for a lack of trust with her, but rather himself. Because Jon had sworn if he was ever in the same room with Colby again, he was going to put him in the hospital. Now though, it wasn't just a potential criminal record at stake if he did and she trusted him to have some restraint, if for no other reason, the baby she carried. “I'm not going to let him ruin tonight, Jon. If he's there, he's there. I doubt he's even going to approach us. And if he does? He lost, Jon. He lost damned near everything and everyone knows it's his own damned fault.”

“I still can't believe Paul bailed his ass out regarding the school but... he always did have a soft spot for him,” he muttered and slid his arm around her. The lawsuit had predictably gone in their favor and been awarded several million dollars in damages. That had come after the contract Natasha's agent had been negotiating had fallen through and several other directors had declined to cast her in their movies until her legal issues had been resolved. Personally, Jon wondered if it was them trying to blacklist her, or them actually attempting to help her in her lawsuit against Colby. It was hard to be awarded damages for defamation if it didn't affect you monetarily.

“Whether I like the man or not, he helps people achieve their dreams and he's good at what he does. So if Paul needed to step in to prevent the school from closing, I'm not going to complain. It was the judge who suggested Colby to sell his half of the school,” she replied softly and stepped into the elevator when the doors opened.

Jon stepped inside with her and remained silent until the doors closed and they started their descent down to the lobby, “Do you ever regret taking him to court?”

“No, I don't. If for no other reason, because he did his best to ruin us. If I hadn't had the security cameras it would have been a he said/she said scenario that my career probably wouldn't have recovered from,” she said with a sigh. As it was, she still occasionally received hateful messages from Seth Rollins fans who swore she had to have done something to warrant him cheating on her.

“Well, you've got enough now that you'll never have to work again if you don't want to,” he said after a moment. Not that he thought she'd actually retire because acting was one of her passions, just as wrestling was his. However, they'd both talked and agreed that maybe it was time to take a break from their hectic schedules. Natasha wanted to be home to raise their baby and that meant stepping away from the limelight.

With AEW staying in Jacksonville due to Covid, it was just a short drive from their home in St. Augustine so he'd be home every day, at least until they started traveling again. Once that happened, they'd have to have a discussion on what their future held because he didn't want to resume touring if it meant he'd be away from their family for most of the year. Of course, if she decided to come with him that was another story.

“I know. I've been thinking about it and usually it's the death knell of a career to step away for a couple of years or more, I might do it anyway. I'm not going to ask you to be a single parent for three to four months at a time when I'm stuck on a set and a nanny is out of the question,” she said and breathed a sigh of relief when the elevator doors opened. Quickly she stepped out and resumed the short journey to the limo which waited for them out front. Ordinarily they would have just taken the rental car but she had an image to uphold and if she was stepping out into the public eye, she was going to do so in style.

“I'd do it, if that's what you really wanted but that's why I'd always said if I ever had kids it wouldn't be until after I'd retired. I don't want to be the dad that's just sending a paycheck to take care of business but never home,” Jon replied and nodded to the driver when the man opened the door for her. He stood beside her and made sure she got into the car without an issue and then slipped in beside her.

“Well, you're home now and that's what matters. It's not like we expected my birth control to fail,” Natasha said softly and leaned into him. Truthfully she'd wanted to wait until they were married for a couple of years, because she'd wanted that time to have Jon all to herself. But then she'd developed stomach ulcers and the doctor had prescribed two different antibiotics as part of her treatment which had done a number on her birth control hormone levels. Combine that with how neither she nor Jon could get enough of one another and the result was a forgone conclusion.

“I'm not complaining, doll,” he replied and reached up to brush her cheek tenderly. He could admit, the idea of being a father sometimes scared him shitless but he knew that everyone thought that about becoming a parent at one time or another. What was important was how a person rose to the challenge and he was ready for it.

Natasha leaned into his hand then and closed her eyes, savoring the touch. She knew he had his doubts and fears, they both did but she knew that as long as they were together none of it mattered.

They rode in comfortable silence for the rest of the trip, although at one point Jon had pulled her into his lap so he could hold her properly. When the driver announced they were approaching the entrance to the building, Jon looked out the tinted windows. Even though the Hall of Fame was officially over, there were still hundreds of fans lined up in the hopes of catching a glimpse of one of their favorite stars coming or going. Of course, there were some lingering reporters at the start of the red carpet waiting to ambush their prey the moment they made an appearance. When the car finally stopped, he helped Natasha to slip out of his lap and pulled her in for a kiss before resting his forehead against hers, “You ready to do this?”

“As long as I don't puke or fall flat on my face, I'm ready for anything,” she replied easily and took a deep breath. She'd done this several times before, even if it had been at film premieres instead of wrestling events but it didn't stop the butterflies from making themselves at home in her stomach. This was only her second major appearance since the news of her and Jon broke, as she had largely retreated from the public eye.

“There's no way in hell I'll let you fall, baby,” Jon reassured her and then pressed a brief kiss to her lips again before he let her go.

A moment later the driver had opened the door and Natasha stepped out to the flash of dozens of cameras. A murmur of surprise went through the crowd that quickly turned to screams when Jon stepped out behind her. They'd kept their plans to attend quiet and to their knowledge, only Daniel, Brie, and Nikki knew they were coming.

“Oh my! It looks like we have a couple more guests making an appearance tonight and what a surprise this is! It's Jon Moxley, ladies and gentleman! Jon Moxley has just stepped out of the limo and he's brought his lovely wife with him, Natasha Annessley! Jon, a few questions please,” Renee asked as the pair stepped forward. She graced him with a brilliant smile and then nodded towards Natasha in greeting. “It's a pleasure to see you again, Jon. It seems that for once, you managed to avoid the rumor mills because we hadn't heard you were coming tonight!”

“Yeah, it's good to see you too, Renee. It's been a long time,” he said with a slight smile in her direction. In the past, the perky blonde had been fun to hang out with and even harbored a small crush on him but he'd kept her at arm's length and made it clear that there would never be anything more than friendship between them.

“It certainly has! After stunning fans with your decision to sign with AEW, does your appearance here today signal a potential return to the WWE or are you here just to catch up with old friends?” Renee asked him and then held the microphone out to him, prepared to hang on every word he said. She knew he'd signed a three year contract with AEW but that didn't mean he couldn't be in talks with the McMahons about a potential return, which in her opinion was something the WWE desperately needed.

“Sorry to disappoint you, Renee but I'm only here tonight to celebrate with a couple of friends and enjoy a night out on the town with my beautiful wife,” he replied and slipped an arm around Natasha's waist. The way Renee's expression dimmed told him that he'd disappointed her, either with his answer regarding his nonexistent return or the way he'd mentioned Natasha. Either way, it wasn't his problem.

“She is beautiful, isn't she?” Renee said and then turned to Natasha. There had been so many rumors surrounding the woman that stood before her, but she'd refused to address them at all when journalists had reached out for comment. But with them standing in front of her, it wasn't like they could get away. “Miss Annessley, you've been with Mox for two years now and you have to admit, there's been many rumors surrounding just how, and when, the two of you came together. It's even been speculated that you'd started dating him even before the end of your relationship with Seth Rollins. Would you like to address those rumors and the people who continue to dredge up the past once and for all?”

Natasha immediately stiffened and stared at the woman who wore a bright, but fake smile. She'd known something like this was likely to be asked and she just smiled back at the woman. “You mean like you're doing now? Jon Moxley has been my best friend for years. We both respected the boundaries of that friendship and he went out of his way to support my relationship with Seth Rollins. He was a true friend to the both of us and he was there when I needed him once that relationship collapsed. If your next question is going to be to ask me if there was anything romantic prior to that, don't bother. People are hunting for a skeleton that quite frankly, does not exist. Our friendship did not turn romantic in nature until months after and no amount of speculation or doubt is going to change that.”

“More to the point,” Jon said and stepped up, interrupting what was sure to be another invasive question by the reporter and he glared down at her. He was fucking furious that she'd dragged that shit out, assuming this interview even made it on the air. “People who want to bring those rumors up would do well to remember what happened to the last person who made the mistake of spreading those lies and bullshit. What's Seth Rollins doing now? Oh yeah, he's the running joke of WWE, parading himself around as 'The Messiah' and hated by pretty much everyone. You know, you might want to ask him how it feels to be penniless because he's still digging himself out of the whole he buried himself in that day. You know he's a piece of crap when even a judge says he's morally destitute. So think on that, Renee. Anyone who gives Seth's crap a second thought needs to think about who they're aligning themselves with when they question my wife regarding her loyalty.”

The smile fell from Renee's face and she awkwardly cleared her throat. Clearly she wasn't going to get anything more from the two of them and she'd managed to piss Jon off with her question. Apparently she hadn't worded it as well as she thought she had, “I see. Well, thank you for your time, we won't keep you any longer.”

With that, Jon led Natasha down the red carpet and waved to the fans who continued to cheer for them until they finally entered the building. The guy who worked security for the front door stared at him uncertainly and for a moment, Jon wondered if he would be turned away at the door. But after a moment's hesitation, he took the tickets and they were ushered in through the doors only to be immediately surrounded by Brie and Nikki.

“Oh my God, you're actually here! What the hell did Renee say anyway? Jon looks pissed!” Brie exclaimed as she took Natasha's arm and led her deeper into the room. They were getting a lot of looks now from some of the others but so far, no one had made the effort to approach them.

“She brought up the rumors about me and Jon after Colby tried to brand me with a scarlet letter,” Natasha said and nodded at the other woman's horrified look. “Yeah, she didn't outright come out and accuse me of fucking around on Colby but she wanted to give me the chance to 'address the rumors'. Like my statement and the court proceedings weren't enough.”

“Of course not. Because why not try and dig for a juicy piece of information in the hopes that it'll bolster her career. You know they're talking about letting her go, right? After WWE Backstage was canceled and she's been relegated back to just being on commentary,” she replied and snagged a glass of champagne as a server and grabbed one for Natasha as well. “Needless to say, she's been very unhappy with the move but if she thought she could dig up something that would make her relevant again... Well, I don't think she plans to hang around much longer anyway.”

Natasha shook her head to decline the alcohol but then Jon was at her side and smoothly lifted it from Brie's hand. Neither of them missed the look that passed between Brie and Nikki, who had also joined them. “Well, she didn't get anything because there isn't anything to find.”

“Natasha,” Brie started and then stepped back for a moment to really look at her friend. Although the way the dress was gathered at the waist hid it well, there was the smallest bit of a bump that would be terribly easy to miss if one wasn't looking for it. “Oh my God! No wonder you're glowing! How far along are you?”

Natasha's eyes widened and she looked around to see who was close enough to hear them even as Brie stepped up to put her hand against her stomach but again, Jon intercepted her. Without so much as a by your leave, he threw his arm around Brie's shoulders before she could make physical contact.

“We're not telling anyone just yet, so keep it on the down low, alright?” Jon said under his breath. Across the room he could see Colby watching them and he had to admit, he took a great amount of pleasure at the stricken look on the other man's face. It only got better when the man walked off to an isolated corner of the room and no one tried to stop him. He just hoped that the asshole hadn't clued in on what Brie had almost announced to the entire room.

“I'll be ten weeks tomorrow,” Natasha murmured softly after she looked around again. Daniel had joined them and their three friends plus Jon had all but formed a huddle around her. She hadn't seen Colby yet but there was no doubt in her mind he was lurking, especially if the look on Paul Levesque's face was anything to go by. The man looked positively constipated with worry.

“Well, congratulations, you two. When's the due date cause I'm calling dibs on throwing the baby shower,” Nikki said and had already pulled her phone out of her clutch to make a note so she could start planning.

“It's December 26th,” Natasha replied and then laughed at the look on both Brie and Nikki's faces. “I know. I'm really hoping that he or she doesn't decide to come on Christmas.”

“Or on New Year's eve,” Nikki replied with a laugh and shook her head ruefully. “One of my friends went into labor on Halloween. Let me tell you, she was not pleased when her obstetrician finally showed up to help her deliver and it turned out he was more than a bit liquored up.”

“Her doctor shows up three sheets to the wind, he's going to need a bed for himself after I beat his ass into the floor,” Jon said without remorse. There was no way he was going to trust the safety of his wife and unborn child to a doctor who had such piss poor judgment.

“I'll make sure to have bail ready,” Daniel said although there was no judgment in his tone. He'd watched Brie give birth and the idea of someone touching her when they were impaired would have had him resorting to violence as well.

“You're still going to be in Florida when it happens, right? You might be in jail with me then,” he said and then laughed when Daniel gave him a look of confusion. “Do you honestly think that Brie and Nikki aren't going to swarm the hospital when they get the call that the baby is on the way?”

Natasha just snorted at the idea and looked at Jon, “You say that like they probably won't be at the house when my water breaks. We're up to two cookouts a week now, or have you forgotten?”

“If we're spending too much time there...” Nikki started, although she knew the two of them were only joking around.

“Don't you even start that. I'm half convinced Matteo and Buddy are the reasons I'm pregnant. I spent all that time holding those two and then Jon flashed those dimples. My hormones said birth control? What birth control...” Natasha replied with an easy smile. The twins and their husbands did spend a lot of time at their home, but since Daniel had gone back to wrestling and he was based in Orlando, they'd taken to meeting up regularly. Drinks had progressed to dinner. Dinners moved to cookouts and now they just had standing get-togethers unless someone's schedule conflicted.

The conversation abruptly ceased when Paul walked over to their small group and immediately Jon went on guard. When he'd left the WWE, he hadn't exactly had a problem with the other man but since the shit with Colby had gone down, he hadn't made an attempt to reach out to him either to see where they stood. The fact that he worked for a rival company was sure to be something of an issue but Jon was of the opinion that as long as he kept a civil tongue in his head, he wasn't going to square off with the other man. All he wanted to do was relax and have a good time.

“Jon,” Paul said with a nod of greeting when he finally reached their group and then he looked at Natasha, “Miss Annessley, you're looking as beautiful as ever. Are you enjoying the party?”

“I am, Mr. Levesque. My compliments on the atmosphere, everything looks perfectly inviting and almost everyone I've spoken to so far has been quite lovely,” she replied and smiled in return.

“Almost everyone?” Paul asked. He'd kept an eye on Colby since the two of them had entered the room and he hadn't approached them yet, so he had to wonder just who had caused problems because there was a good chance heads were going to roll.

“Miss Young asked an unfortunate question in reference to the dispute between myself and Colby, and the rumors that surrounded our breakup. I'd thought the matter had been resolved in the courts, but I guess some people aren't satisfied and insist on dredging up the past,” she replied with a shake of her head. She sighed and gave Paul a sympathetic look because that constipated look was back, “Rest assured, Mr. Levesque, I know that the WWE had no official part in that question, because you weren't aware we would be here but I would appreciate it if you would look into that brief interview? I'd rather it not be released on television, or quotes given on other forums. It took a long time for the hate mail to die down and I finally stopped receiving death threats from his fans about eight months ago. There's still the occasional hate mail of course, but for a while there I couldn't even go on social media without being sent some form of written abuse.”

“It'll be taken care of and the footage buried. It won't be released on any platform, you have my word,” he replied instantly. The last thing he wanted was to open yet another can of worms concerning that bullshit and although she didn't know it yet, Renee had just sealed her fate that would send her to the unemployment line. Had he known that Jon and Natasha had planned to show up, he would have spoken with Renee and outright told her she wasn't to broach that particular subject. “I apologize for Renee speaking out of turn. As far as the WWE is concerned, the matter is dead and buried. It was an unfortunate incident caused by one man's jealousy and I'd like to think that everyone has moved on.”

“Thank you for that, and yes, I agree... Jon and I have moved on from that unpleasantness,” she replied softly and then looked over at Jon. There was no sense in looking back, not when they had such a bright future to look forward to together.

“I'm glad to hear it. When Colby came in I wasn't sure if I was going to have to run interference to keep the two of you apart,” Paul said with a look to Jon. In truth, Colby had looked ready to shit bricks but fortunately, he'd known to keep his distance.

“I'm not going to go over and bust him open. The way I see it, as long as he doesn't start shit, there won't be no shit,” he replied and glanced at Colby who was doing a very good case for being a wallflower at the moment. In fact, he looked rather petrified because his boss was talking to them.

“Glad to hear it,” he said after a moment and then took a step back from them, prepared to take his leave. He was rather impressed with how Natasha had mellowed the other man out and he wasn't quite as concerned anymore about the other man's presence. “You all enjoy the party and Mox... it's good to see you again.”

“Well that was awkward. Let's hope we don't get anymore unexpected visitors,” Brie said once Paul had left. The others couldn't help but agree.

When Jon and Natasha had entered the room, Colby's first reaction had been to freeze because he couldn't believe his ex-friend would have the audacity to show up at a WWE party. The only thing that could have possibly been more unexpected was if the man had showed up to the Hall of Fame event itself. Had that happened, he wasn't sure what Paul would have done because Jon Moxley, at the moment, had been blacklisted by the WWE.

Fortunately, neither of them noticed him right away and it allowed him to stand back and observe the two of them for a few uninterrupted minutes. Natasha looked as radiant as ever and he felt a pang in his heart when she laughed over something that Brie had said. He couldn't help but notice that the look of stress that she'd worn so frequently during their time together was noticeably absent and he wondered just what Jon had done to work that miracle? Was it just the fact that she'd taken a hiatus from acting or was there more to it? He was tempted to go over there and ask her, but he knew the reception he would receive would not be a pleasant one, not as long as Jon was by her side.

So he resigned himself to standing there in the corner, looking like an idiot while he watched the woman he'd claimed to love and then lost through an act of stupidity. His breath caught when Brie reached for her stomach though and his eyes widened. From this distance, it was difficult for him to tell if he was imagining things but there was no doubt in his mind that her stomach had been the Bella's target. The way their voices lowered still further, until they were mere whispers just confirmed his suspicions. She was pregnant and wasn't _that_ just a bitch? The woman he'd thought he might one day marry was carrying another man's child and it was all because he'd allowed his ego to get away from him. It'd taken a long time for him to realize that he'd thrown away the best thing that had ever happened to him, but eventually, there was no denying that inescapable truth. Oh, there was still plenty of resentment on his part, but that was because of everything that he'd lost even if he _had_ deserved it. But he couldn't say he wouldn't have done the same to her if the roles had been reversed.

It was then that Paul had caught his eye and given him a stern look. He'd known exactly what it meant, he was to keep his distance and his mouth shut when it came to those two, because if he put another toe out of line the man would bury him. Most likely out back behind the hotel, assuming he could find a shovel. If not, his body would likely end up in the dumpster, to be carted off to the nearest landfill. He'd received the message loud and clear. He was going to stay well away from Jon Moxley, because he had no desire to become involved in a brawl in the middle of a hotel ballroom.

Of course, that hadn't stopped Paul from going over to them himself and he was curious what the conversation entailed because for a moment, it had looked like the man was going to stroke out. To his surprise, it wasn't anything that Jon had said that had done it either, but Natasha, who'd delivered whatever crushing blow it was with a serene smile on her face. He knew that he'd have to catch up to his boss after he'd finished speaking with them, because he was dying to know what the hell was going on now. He just hoped that it wasn't something drastic, like Mox coming back to the WWE. He didn't think he could take it if he was, because the minute they ended up in the ring together, he knew he was in for a world of pain because Jon wouldn't hold back.

Eventually though Paul left their little group and he'd hoped that the man would join him in his attempts to blend in with the wallpaper, but it was not to be. Instead he'd disappeared through the ballroom door and the brief glimpse he'd gotten before they'd swung shut had given him the impression that he was going outside? If he hadn't known better, he would have sworn the man was going out to have a cigarette but he didn't smoke so that couldn't be it.

When he realized that Paul wasn't going to come back anytime soon, he slipped through the doors and made his way to the restrooms for a bit of a breather. Ever since Natasha had appeared, the room had become stifling and he struggled to breathe through the emotions she dredged up. The door closed behind him and he went to one of the sinks and splashed water on his face before he gripped the edges of the basin and stared at his reflection in the mirror for several long minutes. Sooner or later he'd have to pull it together, because everyone was watching him and he couldn't afford for everyone to witness him have a breakdown. “Come on, Colby. They probably won't even be here long. You can do this.”

“Hey, man. Becky's been asking where you disappeared to.”

Colby didn't even bother to look away from his reflection when Mike Mizanin called out to him. He didn't give a shit about what Becky wanted at the moment. In truth, he didn't give much of a shit about what she wanted in general but he shared a kid with the woman and he had to keep her happy so he could spend time with his son and that meant attending events with her. He scoffed at the notion but the woman had gotten it in her head that they would eventually get married but it wasn't going to happen unless she forced the issue. He would say it was more likely they'd end up in court before that happened but with his track record? He doubted any judge would side with him.

He sighed when the other man moved closer and he shook his head. He knew he couldn't hide in the bathroom forever. “Yeah, I'll be out in a minute. Thanks, man.”

Colby checked his reflection again and made sure that he didn't look too disheveled before he checked his watch. He'd been hiding in the bathroom for nearly fifteen minutes now. Was it too much to hope for to have Becky just assume he'd left? Better yet, could he hope that Jon and Natasha had taken their leave? It wasn't like they were actively making their way around the room. Instead they seemed to be quite comfortable with the Bella twins, although rumor had it they almost lived in one another's back pockets with the amount of time they spent together.

Knowing he was out of time, Colby made his way through the bathroom door and nearly ran into someone when he turned the corner to return to the ballroom. Only his quick thinking saved the other person from falling backwards when he'd grabbed them mid fall. “Hey are you alr... Natasha?”

“Colby,” she said and quickly stepped back away from him once she had her footing. She wasn't quite sure what to say to him, considering that her and Jon had both assumed he'd left the party after he'd disappeared for so long. It was the only reason Jon had felt comfortable allowing her to go to the restroom by herself and she hadn't felt like pulling him away from his conversation with Orton. “I'm fine, thank you. Please excuse me.”

“You look beautiful tonight,” he said softly and reached out to stop her from leaving. His touch was gentle when he grasped her by the arm and then sighed at the look she gave him. It was cold, but no less than what he deserved. “What am I saying, you look beautiful every day. I uh... wanted to say I'm sorry for everything I did. I know it probably doesn't mean much now but, I'm trying to be better. I uh... even started going to therapy to work out why I did what I did.”

Natasha just stood there, watching him silently. She knew if Jon walked in on them now, he'd be beyond livid and she purposefully took two steps back which made Colby release her arm. She wasn't about to allow anyone to get the wrong idea about what was going on at that moment. “Was it ordered by the WWE or did you take the initiative on your own?”

“I knew I needed to get better. To be better so... I did it myself,” he said and swallowed hard. He'd often wondered what he'd do or say if they ever had the chance to talk again but all of the scenarios he'd thought of, all the questions and apologies he'd considered, they'd all vanished from his mind the moment he'd touched her. This was turning out to be more difficult than he'd ever imagined. “I saw you got married. Are you happy? I mean... obviously but... are things what you hoped for?”

“It's everything I'd ever hoped for and more than I'd ever dreamed of,” she replied and watched him swallow hard. It wasn't hard to spot the naked longing in his expression and the bitter disappointment that he felt at her words. In that instant, she watched that spark of hope that he'd have begin to flicker out of existence but she wanted to drive the point home, “It's like _our_ year together never happened, Colby and I only wish that Jon and I had realized what we'd meant to one another from the very beginning. I sometimes think on what an immeasurable loss it is that we didn't. I suppose though, no matter how long it took for us to come together, everything is as it should be. We've both moved on from everything you put us through and now we're looking forward to growing old together. I'd never believed in soul mates before, but I do now. I just hope that one day, you'll find yours.”

“And if I said I'd already found her and stupidly let her go?” he asked in a whisper and took a shuddering breath. Her words were like a dagger to the heart, carving it out of him piece by painful piece. The ache in his chest was back but he couldn't lose it, not now. Not with so many people around and they'd managed to draw a small crowd that was no doubt hanging on every word that was said. In fact, Cena wasn't more than a few steps away, no doubt ready to step in if things went South.

“I'd say you were mistaken, because if you truly find the person you can't live without, then you'll never stray from them. I'd cut my own heart out before I ever betrayed Jon the way you did me... so no, you might have loved me but I was never that person for you,” she said with a shake of her head. She refused to believe that after all this time he still harbored feelings for her.

“Even if there was a reason for it? It's... I don't want to get into the details here but the therapist said I have a disorder that makes those impulses... hard to control,” he said and lowered his voice so he didn't broadcast it to the whole damned world. He'd been diagnosed with sexual narcissism which explained why he couldn't restrain his impulses.

“Even if there's a reason for it, Colby. You still don't understand. The idea of hurting Jon is intolerable. It doesn't matter what I think or feel or need at the time. He's always in my thoughts and to do something like that...” she trailed off and shook her head. It would never happen. There was no force on the Earth that could make her do something so foul. There was no justification for it, none whatsoever. “Jon and I are happy together. You need to accept it and move on because dwelling on what might have been will never bring you peace.”

“Are you saying that because you believe it or have you just managed to convince yourself that's how you feel because of the baby?” he asked before he could stop himself. He couldn't help it though, not when he knew the child she carried could have been his, if only the circumstances had been different. He wanted nothing more than to go back in time and tell himself how much he'd lose, just so he could stop it from happening.

Natasha's eyes widened and she clenched a fist, nearly giving in to the urge to punch the man standing across from her but she refrained. She wasn't going to resort to physical violence because she'd never hear the end of it. “This conversation is finished, Mr. Lopez. Goodbye.”

“That baby should have been mine,” he said softly but by the way she stiffened, he knew she'd heard him.

“Then you should be asking yourself if it was worth it? Was tossing me aside like so much garbage for one night of pleasure worth the loss of the future you _claim_ to have wanted? Because from where I'm standing, it seems like you have no one to blame but yourself. I'm in love with Jon, I married him after all, and though it took a while, I've come to appreciate the fact that you managed to screw everything up so badly. It's because of your actions I realized how draining it was to be with you. Your inability to keep your hands to yourself was what led to Jon and I exploring our feelings for one another. This baby was _always_ destined to be _his_. You, Mr. Lopez, threw away your chance and I stopped allowing you the satisfaction of making my life miserable months ago,” she replied without bothering to turn around. With that she continued walking and left him alone to contemplate his thoughts. Whether or not he'd accept what she said was no longer her problem.

When Natasha finally stepped through the door that led back to the party, she saw Jon excuse himself from his conversation with Randy. She met him halfway and slid her hands into his before he could even get a word out.

“You were gone for a while. Everything okay?” he asked and looked her over with a critical eye. He'd noticed she looked tense but now that she was in front of him that tension had bled away until not even a trace of it remained. He looked up and frowned when he saw Colby slip into the room but the other man refused to make eye contact. Whether that was because something had happened or if it was because Becky had followed him into the room and was in the process of verbally tearing strips off of him at high volume was anyone's guess.

Without hesitation, Natasha stepped up to him and slid her hands up his chest and when he bent down, she pressed her lips to his. Each time they touched, whether it was his hand on hers, or the gentlest of kisses, or their steamy interludes in the bedroom there was one thing she could say with absolute certainty and that was that every moment with him was like she'd come home. There was no other way to explain it and she wouldn't change it for anything in the world. When he kissed her a second time she had to smile and whisper against his lips, “Everything's perfect, love, just as it should be. What do you say we get out of here? I seem to remember you saying something about peeling me out of this dress.”

Jon couldn't help but grin at the question and he swept her up in his arms, delighted at the delighted laugh that escaped her as he made his way towards the door. The sounds of catcalls and whistling followed them from the room, making him laugh along with her, “Baby, I thought you'd never ask.”

The End


End file.
